BY JAMES BALOWSKI
At around 9pm on June 4, two German tourists camping out near Lueng Gayo beach in the sub-district of Teunom in West Aceh were fired on by Indonesian troops (TNI). Lothar Heinrich Albert (54) died from a bullet wound to the chest and his wife, Elisabeth Engel (50), was shot in the knee. She is now being treated at the regional military command hospital.
At a press conference the following day, military operational commander Bambang Dharmono explained that the incident occurred after local people reported seeing a suspicious light behind their house. TNI troops were sent to investigate and, after twice calling out the "password" and firing warning shots in the air, fired in the direction of the light, hitting Albert and Engel. Dharmono stressed this was standard operational procedure and troops only fired after there was no response to their repeated warnings.
TNI chief Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed deep concern and ordered an investigation into what is the latest in a series of shootings of unarmed people by soldiers. Welfare minister Yusuf Kalla warned that the shooting of foreigners in Aceh "will definitely trouble us" in the same way the killing of foreigners in West Timor several years ago had reverberated around the world.
Although the exact circumstances of the incident are still being investigated, more interesting is a letter shown by Dharmono to reporters, which he says was "written" by Engel and in which she explicitly states that troops were not to blame for the death of her husband. In response to questions, Dharmono insisted that it was not written under duress.
So, what's so interesting about the letter? Well, the June 6 Kompas daily was kind enough to reprint a photograph of the letter for all to see:
"I, Elisabeth Engel say, that we will sleep on this beach and I (know) now, it was very dangerest area and it was not good, to do this at this situation. I know, I should'nd be there and about the heappen, my husband is death and I know, this was only a miss - understanding from military. I will except my husbands deaths.
"Mauloboh, Juni 5.03
"s/- [illegible] Engel Elisabeth Engel"
The language and style of handwriting (which is different from the signatures, and the month is written as "Juni" not "June") suggests that it was obviously written by an Indonesian and not Engel.
But, as the military points out, they probably shouldn't have been staying in such a dangerous area in the first place and the whole thing may have just been a terrible accident. Or perhaps because Engel was not fluent in English or wasn't feeling well enough, "someone else" wrote the letter which she then read, agreed to and signed.
Maybe. But, I can help wondering why, if I was lying in a hospital bed with a hole in my leg, having just seeing my spouse gunned down in a hail of bullets, and in the absence of a lawyer or consular representative, my first act would be to agree to write or sign a letter who's sole purpose is to absolve the military of any wrong doing?
From Green Left Weekly, June 11, 2003.
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