Thais reject force against hijackers

Press, 31 March 1981, Page 8

Thais reject force against hijackers

NZPA-Reuter Bangkok The Thai Prime Minister (General Prem Tinsulariond.a) said yesterday that he had turned down a request by Indonesia to use force againt five hijackers holding 44 hostages aboard an Indonesian airliner at Bangkok Airport. General Prem said after talks yesterday morning with Indonesian negotiators that Thailand had full jurisdiction to decide what action would be taken to end the hijacking. which began on Saturday.

"If the hijackers do not become brutal we do not want to use force.'' General Prem said, adding that the five men. armed with automatic rifles, hand-grenades, and dynamite, were becoming confused and agitated.

General Prem said that-' although an American hostage. Karl Schneider, was shot and wounded by hijackers on Sunday, it'was not an indication of premeditated violence by the hijackers becaue Mr Schneider was trying to escape. General Prem said that Indonesia wanted the hijack crisis to be solved in Bangkok but the ’ hijackers were still demanding to go- to Sri Lanka. Colombo has said it will not accept them.

The Thai Communications Minister (Mr Amorn Sirikaya) declined to comment when asked if Indonesian commandos w-ere aboard an Indonesian DCIO airliner which brought General Moerdani to Bangkok from Jakarta on Sunday night. The Thai national police said that a request by the Bangkok Airport authoritiesfor police sharpshooters had been granted. The hijackers commandeered the Garuda Airlines DC9 airliner carrying 44 passengers and crew last Saturday on an internal flight in Indonesia and forced it to fly first to Malaysia and then Bangkok. They wanted to go on to Colombo but Sri Lanka refused to accept them.

A Thai Government spokesman said that Indonesia had agreed to all .their demands including the release of 84 “political prisoners.” The spokesman declined to disclose two other conditions made by the hijackers, but two Bangkok English-lan-guage newspapers quoted sources as ■ saying they wanted a denunciation of the Indonesian Vice-President (Mr Adam Malik) and expulsion of all Jews — or Israelis — from Indonesia.

Informed sources in Jakarta said the hijackers, all Indonesians, were believed to be Muslim extremists seeking to embarrass the 14-year-old Administration of President Suharto.

No immediate report was available this morning on the condition of the shot American hostage, Karl Schneider, aged 47, who has undergone surgery for a bullet lodged near his spine.

Mr Schneider, who fell to the tarmac after being shot, works for the same American oil-industry servicing company in Jakarta as Robert Wainwright, aged 27. a Briton who earlier on Sunday sprinted to safety from the airliner's rear " emergency exit.

In Jakarta, several newspapers appeared with blank spaces to express’ their frustration at official censorship on the hijacking.

The Indonesian Government has denied the existence of political prisoners in the country, but about 20C students, some attached tc Muslim groups, were arrested last October after rioting in central Java anc several other radical students were detained in 1971 after an attempted attack or the Parliament building.