LtCol (Inf) Yayat Sudrajat
Commander of the Combined Intelligence Task Force (Satuan Gabungan Intelijen, SGI), Dili
Yayat Sudrajat, a Kopassus intelligence officer, was first recommended for prosecution by KPP HAM, for passing weapons to militia groups. Much of the evidence rested on the testimony of Tomas Goncalves, local government regent (bupati) in Ermera and a militia leader who defected to Macau in April 1999. Goncalves said he first met senior military officers at a meeting in late 1998 (November?) to discuss plans to recruit local militias to counter an expected referendum on East Timor's future. Present at the meeting at the Dili military headquarters were regional commander Maj-Gen Adam Damiri and East Timor commander Col Tono Suratman. Other meetings followed. Governor Abilio Soares was present at at least one of these in March 1999, where he said an 'operation' was being planned that involved killing pro-independence leaders and their families.
Yayat Sudrajat was present at one of these preparatory meetings with militia leaders in Tono Suratman’s Dili headquarters in November 1998. Another such meeting was held on 16 February 1999. Sudrajat was in charge of distributing money (Rp 200,000 for a new recruit) and weapons. Perhaps it was this same February meeting that was described in the Dili indictment against Sudrajat (clause 18). It was held in the SGI headquarters in Dili. Sudrajat told the militia leaders and TNI personnel present that SGI had a list of independence supporters that were to be killed. He said SGI and the militias would cooperate to carry out these killings. He said Kopassus dressed as thugs would start to carry out murdersof pro-independence supporters.
Goncalves said Yayat Sudrajat turned up in Ermera in March 1999 (or should that be April?) with three pickups loaded with hundreds of firearms to be distributed to militias. According to the Dili indictment against Sudrajat, he had been ordered to distribute automatic firearms to pro-Indonesian militias by Col Tono Suratman, who in turn had received his orders from MajGen Zacky Makarim. Makarim had been appointed by Gen Wiranto and LtGen (ret) Feisal Tanjung to coordinate a clandestine pro-Indonesian movement.
The intelligence unit Combined Intelligence Task Force (Satuan Gabungan Intelijen, SGI), was also known as Tribuana Task Force VIII and was run by Kopassus. East Timorese had long feared SGI for the impunity with which it employed torture against detainees. Its commander was regularly present at meetings with top military commanders in East Timor.
The SGI commander was a special staff member reporting to the East Timor military commander (Danrem) with intelligence information to assist the latter's work. The intelligence task force had representatives in every district command headquarters around East Timor (presumably these were the district intelligence officers, Pasi Intel).
At least in one place, Lospalos, the Tribuana Task Force had its own base, from which it ran its own well-armed and murderous militia group, Alfa Team (see Lt Rahman Zulkarnaen).
On 6 April 1999, the day of the Liquica church massacre (see LtCol Asep Kuswani), Yayat Sudrajat was present in the Liquica military district headquarters. East Timor deputy military commander Col Mudjiono had asked him to come along and observe the deteriorating situation at the church. He had with him three Kopassus soldiers and two regular TNI soldiers, all of whom took part in the attack at the church. Sudrajat personally went to the scene of the attack as soon as it erupted.
Sudrajat worked closely with the territorial military command structure. One of his SGI officers, Tome Diogo, intelligence officer at the Liquica district command (see LtCol Asep Kuswani), was among those indicted for crimes against humanity in the Dili district court over the Liquica massacre.
Two other SGI officers, known only as Mahalan Agus Salim and Rizal, were also indicted in absentia with crimes against humanity in Dili for their roles respectively in the Cailaco massacre and the Maliana police station massacre (see LtCol Burhanuddin Siagian).
The Dili indictment against Col Herman Sediono and 15 others said (clause 132) that soldiers and the Laksaur militia in Covalima district committed a number of murders against pro-independence supporters after Yayat Sudrajat told top district officials in Suai on 26 April 1999 that civil servants who did not support Indonesia should have their salaries stopped.
Yayat Sudrajat revealed little during interrogation by Indonesian officials in September 2000, saying he was only doing his job. His career has not suffered. After his SGI appointment in Dili he briefly held the position of deputy commander of Kopassus Group 4 (Sandi Yudha, intelligence/ secret warfare), based in Cijantung, Jakarta. He was then promoted to battalion commander of Kopassus Group V (counter-terrorism), and then in about March 2000 to intelligence assistant to the Kopassus general commander (Asintel Danjen Kopassus), replacing Sunarko, at the same time rising in rank to colonel.
Yayat Sudrajat took over from LtCol Wioyotomo Nugroho in this post. One report says this happened in December 1998 or January 1999. But the Dili indictment against Sudrajat shows him already attending a militia meeting in November 1999, so perhaps there was a period of overlap. Sudrajat was in turn apparently replaced just before the ballot by Col Anwar.
Western intelligence sources say Kopassus was involved in destabilising operations in several parts of Indonesia (Irian Jaya, Aceh, the Moluccas as well as East Timor) in 2000.
Following international pressure, Yayat Sudrajat was charged with crimes against humanity before the Indonesian Ad Hoc Court in Jakarta on 4 July 2002. The charge said he was responsible for the three SGI members who took part in the Liquica church attack. He was acquitted without public explanation on 30 December 2002.
On 24 February 2003 Yayat Sudrajat was charged in absentia with crimes against humanity before the Dili special panel. Indicted with him were six other senior military officers including Gen Wiranto (where the indictment is summarised), as well as Governor Abilio Soares.
