Awaiting justice for May riot, victims ready to forgive<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Chinese-Indonesians pressed on Saturday for the prosecution of
\nthe masterminds and perpetrators of the deadly May riots in 1998,
\nwhich killed over 1,000 people in Jakarta and other towns.<\/p>\n
\"We will forgive them only after we know the truth and it
\nmeans the perpetrators must be brought to justice,\" Ong Heru, a
\nvictim of the riots, told a discussion entitled: The May 1998
\nTragedy, Shall We Forget It?.<\/p>\n
Ong, nearly 70, lost his house and shops during the May 12, 13
\nand 14 mayhem. His wife's suffered multiple fractures to her legs
\nwhen she jumped from the third floor of her burning shop, while
\nhis daughter became an invalid as she too jumped from the third
\nfloor, injuring her spine.<\/p>\n
\"I want it (the truth) revealed, not because I want to take
\nrevenge. It would affect my children, grandchildren and the
\ncountry's future generations,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Benny Satya, chairman of the Indonesian Tionghoa (Chinese)
\nAssociation (INTI), shared Ong's view, saying that the demand of
\nmost ethnic Chinese victims was only that the masterminds be
\nrevealed.<\/p>\n
\"We really want to know what happened at that time. Who did
\nthat and why. Only then would we be able to forgive. If any
\nChinese-Indonesian claims that all Chinese-Indonesians have
\nforgotten it, it's wrong. We are waiting for justice to prevail,\"
\nhe told journalists on the sideline of the discussion.<\/p>\n
Other participants voiced similar grievances, questioning the
\ngovernment's lack of political will to resolve the case. They
\nalso expressed concern over whether those linked to the tragedy
\nwould become the country's future leaders.<\/p>\n
Activist Ester Indahyani Jusuf, who was the secretary of an ad
\nhoc team set up by the National Commission on Human Rights
\n(Komnas HAM) to investigate the riots, told the same forum that
\nthe riots were planned.<\/p>\n
She urged the Attorney General's Office to follow up the
\nteam's report by prosecuting those responsible for the incident.<\/p>\n
\"But, they (prosecutors) keep saying that our report lacks
\nthis, that or the other, or that they do not have approval from
\nthe House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
\"We have sufficient testimonies from witnesses. What the
\nprosecutors need to find out is information from those who were
\nresponsible for security at the time,\" Ester said.<\/p>\n
I Ketut Murtika, the Attorney General's Office human rights
\ndivision head, said his office was continuing to study the report
\nthat lacked testimonies from former military and police chiefs as
\nthey defied the team's summonses.<\/p>\n
Gen. (ret.) Wiranto was the armed forces commander when the
\nriots devastated Jakarta. He is currently contesting the
\npresidential election on the Golkar Party' ticket.<\/p>\n
He has selected Solahuddin Wahid, who was the Komnas HAM's ad
\nhoc team chairman, as his running mate. Last week, Solahuddin
\nresigned as the commission's deputy chairman to accept the
\ncandidacy for vice president.<\/p>\n
Probes into the tragedy had in fact started under the
\ngovernment of B.J. Habibie. But no suspects were named by the
\nAttorney General's Office as the House decided that gross human
\nrights abuses were not committed in the May riots.<\/p>\n
During the incident that led to president Soeharto's fall on
\nMay 21, 1998, no military or police officers were around to
\nprevent the devastation, except those hired by the owners of
\nprivate enterprises to guard their assets.<\/p>\n
This strengthened widespread allegations that the riots were
\npart of a conspiracy among those in power to quash the people's
\nmovement.<\/p>\n
More than 1,200 people were killed during the riots, which
\nwere fueled by anti-Chinese sentiment across the country,
\naccording to the Volunteer Team for Humanity.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of shops, shopping centers and homes, particularly in
\nChinatown, were looted and torched in the violence that was
\ntriggered by the shooting of four Trisakti University students
\nduring an anti-Soeharto protest on May 12, 1998.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/awaiting-justice-for-may-riot-victims-ready-to-forgive-1447893297",
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