Cool response given to Tj. Priok trial<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The poor record of the country's human rights tribunal in
\nhandling the 1999 East Timor bloodshed has produced ample reason
\nfor suspicion over the government's plan to present the long-
\nawaited hearing into the 1984 Tanjung Priok tragedy, a rights
\nactivist has said.<\/p>\n
\"I'm sorry to say I'm not optimistic (about the plan),\" said
\nchairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association
\n(PBHI) Hendardi.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office swore in last week a dozen ad
\nhoc prosecutors to handle the Tanjung Priok shooting, which left
\ndozens unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
Attorney General M.A. Rachman said last week that the case
\nwould be taken to court as soon as the prosecutors had prepared
\ntheir charges.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office has named 14 active and retired
\nmilitary officers, including the current commander of the Army's
\nfeared Special Forces (Kopassus), Maj. Gen. Sriyanto Muntrasan,
\nas suspects in the incident.<\/p>\n
Sriyanto was head of the operational section of the North
\nJakarta Military District at the time of the bloodshed.<\/p>\n
However, L.B. Moerdani and Try Sutrisno, Indonesian Military
\ncommander and Jakarta Military chief respectively at the time of
\nthe bloodshed, were conspicuously absent from the list of
\nsuspects.<\/p>\n
Hendardi said the absence of political will, rather than
\ninappropriate legislation on human rights, had created more
\nproblems in the promotion of human rights in the country.<\/p>\n
\"I suspect that it (the human rights tribunal) has become a
\ntool to protect military officers and civilians responsible for
\nhuman rights crimes,\" Hendardi said over the weekend.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta ad hoc human rights tribunal has been criticized
\nfor acquitting 12 of 18 civilians and security personnel,
\nincluding three Army generals, who were charged with gross human
\nrights violations for their failure to prevent a violent rampage
\ncarried out by pro-Jakarta militia members and their military
\nbackers in 1999.<\/p>\n
Both the international and local communities described the
\ntribunal, set up under strong international pressure, as a sham.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri
\ncalled for the establishment of an international tribunal in a
\nneutral country to try Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel
\nallegedly involved in the 1999 mayhem.<\/p>\n
Hendardi said justice seekers in the Tanjung Priok case may
\nface more disappointment than victims of the East Timor mayhem,
\nas the case was not expected to attract international attention.<\/p>\n
A presidential decree issued in 2000 on past human rights
\nviolations stipulates that an ad hoc court would try cases
\narising from the 1999 East Timor and Tanjung Priok human rights
\nabuses.<\/p>\n
The decree followed the enactment of Law No. 26\/2000 on the
\nhuman rights tribunal, which carries a maximum sentence of death
\nfor those convicted of gross human rights violations.<\/p>\n
\"Don't expect too much (from the tribunal),\" Hendardi warned.<\/p>\n
The tendency, Hendardi said, could be seen from the fact that
\nthe Attorney General's Office had failed to name the military
\nleadership serving at the time of the Tanjung Priok incident.<\/p>\n
The Tanjung Priok bloodshed took place on Sept. 12, 1984, when
\nsoldiers opened fire on antigovernment protesters outside a
\nmosque at Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Relatives of the victims say the incident claimed more than
\n400 lives, while the military claims only 18 people were killed.<\/p>\n
An investigation by the National Commission on Human Rights
\n(Komnas HAM) stated that 33 were killed and 55 injured in the
\nviolence.<\/p>",
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