[Marinir] The Marines: Real Story behind May 1998 Riot

[aditya kusuma wardhana]

The Marines: Real Story behind May 1998 Riot
 
source
:http://land.heim.at/podersdorf/220272/news/news_realstory.html

Back in May 98, when Jakarta was literally burning,
the Navy Chief of Staff, Adm. Arief Kushariadi, was on
his way for some pre-scheduled trip using the Navy
helicopter. As he was flying over Jakarta, he could
not help noticing the movement of rioters on the
ground and the fires they started. He was amazed that
he could not see any sizeable force of security
personnel to oppose the rampaging rioters. He assessed
the situation that strategic places such as the
presidential palace had not been completely secured by
sizeable military units visible from the air. 
Being in a separate chain of command (thus he had no
control of any Army or Police units), and thinking
that Jakarta was in danger, he immediately contacted
the Commander of Marines 2nd Infantry Brigade based in
Cilandak, Jakarta. Adm. Kushariadi inquired of
available forces that the 2nd Marine Brigade could
move at that instant. To his surprise, the Brigade
commander replied that he had none. All of his
available forces had been BKO-ed to KODAM Jaya and
they were already fielded when Adm. Kushariadi reached
him over the radio. This even include all combat
support personnel, artilery and cavalry. The marines
had a battalion of cavalry (amphibious PT-76 tanks and
BTR-50 amphibious Armored Personnel Vehicle) in
Cilandak. However, they remained in their base with
nobody left to operate them. 
Unbeknownst to the Admiral, the Marines based in
Cilandak Jakarta had been involved in a plot
engineered by Prabowo and his clicks. Prabowo had
realized that the Marines was the only military unit
that was able to contest his Kopassus in combat. He
happens to be a good friend of Maj. Gen. Suharto, the
Marine Corps Commandant at the time, when they shared
quarters during SESKOGAB in Bandung a few years
before. When Prabowo was in charge of Kopassus, he
tried to bring the two corps closer together. Having
almost unlimited source of funding (thanks to the
support he enjoyed from Cendana), Prabowo not only
beefed up his Kopassus but he also sent some
contributions to the Marines, commanded then by his
old roommate, Maj. Gen. Suharto. After living as a
step son for more than three decades, the Marines
received Prabowo contribution with a warm feeling.
However, Maj. Gen. Suharto was aware of some moves
from Prabowo that might follow the contributions. 
It did come in 1997, when Prabowo proposed "to better
integrate" Kopassus and the Marine corps. How ? By
interchanging personnel between the two Corps. He
wanted to have some Kopassus men in every Marine Unit
and to be part of the unit during the operation. Maj.
Gen. Suharto flatly refused this proposal. Politely,
he explained to Prabowo that the Marine has a
different doctrine from its counterparts in Kopassus.
The Indonesian Marine (owing to much similarities to
the USMC) follow the doctrine as a professional combat
unit. They never did nor wish to ever raise their
weapons against their own coutrymen. The marines
subscribes to a frontal type combat style where the
objective is as clearly defined as the identity of the
enemy. When the Marines are landing on the beach, they
must assume that the beach was part of Indonesian soil
invaded by some foreign enemies. So "mendarat dan
menang" just simply does not apply to the Indonesian
Army doctrines. 
Knowing that he could not influence the neutrality and
professionalism of the Marines, Prabowo decided that
he should at least tied up all available Marine Units
in Jakarta area when his troops were to secure power
from then defunct government of President Suharto. He
was able to do this because Maj. Gen. Sjafrie
Samsoeddin, the Commanding General of Kodam Jaya, was
his old friend from the Academy and part of his group.
Samsoeddin cleverly ordered the marines to stand guard
at some less important locations far away from the
area being destroyed by rampaging rioters. 
Now, back to Adm. Kushariadi. Realizing that there was
no effective military unit to protect the Jakarta, the
prudent Admiral immediately raised the Commander of
the Marines 1st Infantry Brigade based in Karang
Pilang, Surabaya. Kushariadi ordered Surabaya to get
ready one full infantry battalion equipped for combat
deployment (they did not have extensive PHH
equipments). He also ordered Surabaya to get ready all
available tank and panzer crews. Using all available
planes belonging to the Navy fleet air arm (including
the Nomad & CASA 212), the admiral instructed the
marine battalion & its combat equipment to be flown in
to Jakarta at all possible speed. As you may have
suspected, the Navy did not possess planes with heavy
load capacity, it took the small navy planes several
sorties between Jakarta-Surabaya to finally air lifted
the entire marine battalion to Halim Perdanakusuma air
base in Jakarta. 
As soon as the Surabaya marine battalion landed in
Jakarta, Adm. Kushariadi ordered the infantrymen to
secure strategic locations including the Presidential
Palace area. The cavalry crew from Surabaya
immediately started and manned all available tanks and
panzers still sitting in their hangars in Cilandak.
These tanks were then rolling into Jakarta street to
join the marine infantry already in location. 
Adm. Kushariadi thought he had saved the city from
total mayhem. Well, he did, but unbeknownst to him,
his action also foiled two opposing groups that were
just getting ready to launch a coup: Wiranto's group
facing Prabowo's group. Both Wiranto and Prabowo were
cooking their own coup scenario. The situation in
Jakarta was intentionally brewed to allow the
deployment of combat troops in Jakarta using the riots
as an excuse. While Wiranto and Prabowo were cooking
up strategy to beat their opponents, they forgot to
take into account the x-factor such as Adm.
Kushariadi, who was totally outside the plot and
unaware of the coup plans from either side. 
So, now Jakarta is in chaos, the army troops from both
factions are ready. But the arrival of a marine
battalion from Surabaya, now supported with tanks ,
(note that the marine tanks are better armored and
more heavily armed than those wheeled cavalry units
fielded by Kodam Jaya) had rendered both Wiranto &
Prabowo's plan unexecutable without serious
consequences. If either Wiranto or Prabowo kept
pressing forward with their coup plan, then they will
not only face the other army faction but also a
battalion of marines from Surabaya. Also, as soon as
the three marine infantry battalions from Cilandak,
which were BKO-ed to KODAM, realized that their
brothers from Surabaya were here and there is a coup
attempt in progress, then the full Infantry Brigades
would retract themselves from under the control of
KODAM Jaya and rejoined their original unit. Even
under BKO, all marine field commanders would certainly
put the order coming from their Chief of Staff (Adm.
Kushariadi)and their own Brigade Commander much higher
than orders coming from KODAM Commanding General, Maj.
Gen. Safrie Shamsoeddin. Therefore, whoever wanted to
press forward with their coup plan, they will have to
face the entire Marine 2nd Infantry Brigade with an
additional extra battalion from Surabaya. That is more
than 4000 professional and very well trained combat
troops complete with their artilery and cavalry. 
Some inside sources indicate that Wiranto replaced
ADM. Kushariadi a few months after the May Incidents
because of what the Admiral did to save Jakarta.
Regardless of the outcome and consequences of his
actions, Adm. Kushariadi, the Marines, and the
Indonesian Navy as a whole, had again made their
selfless contribution to the survival of the Republic.
But as usual, the Navy remained unnamed in the history
pages of Indonesia. However, the people of Indonesia
had witnessed how their marines display a true sense
of military professionalism in the handling on various
public unrest which culminated in the Semanggi
Incident in November 1998. If only the people of
Indonesia could find out the truth about May 1998 and
the unparalleled role played by their Marines and Navy
in the recent struggle of their country ... 



		
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