ANYONE WONDERING why people in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya and human rights activists immediately blamed the death of independence leader Theys Eluay on the Indonesian armed forces need only consider a little recent history.
Only two years ago, several figures in the armed forces were accused by Indonesian and international investigators of setting up and running militias in order to derail the United Nations-administered independence ballot in East Timor, and of trashing the place when the first plan failed. Key figures from that brutal operation - performed in the name of Indonesian national unity - are now running the military shows in Irian Jaya and Aceh provinces.
The clearest reminder of the connections came only last week, straight after witnesses had described the bruising, discolouration, protruding tongue and other wounds on the body of Theys.
Even the local police agreed this suggested Theys had been murdered, probably by strangulation, and probably tortured or abused in the process.
But Irian Jaya's provincial military chief, General Mahidin Simbolon, had this to say: 'Theys died without signs of torture, shooting or killing. There was an element of disease, that is a heart complication.'
General Simbolon's claim that Theys suffered a heart attack provoked bitter laughter in diplomatic and human-rights circles in Jakarta. Memories were suddenly tweaked about why his name had a familiar ring: General Simbolon is one of those senior officers who investigators say should face international war-crimes charges for the murder and destruction carried out in East Timor, but who along with his colleagues has been promoted instead.