Govt's latest denial of mid-May rapes lambasted<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Repeated government denials that scores of women
\nwere raped during the mid-May riots, the latest coming from
\nMinister of Defense and Security\/Armed Forces Commander Gen.
\nWiranto on Sunday, have again come under fire.<\/p>\n
The chairman of a government-sponsored fact-finding team
\ninvestigating the riots, Marzuki Darusman, on Monday slammed the
\nlatest denial as \"premature\".<\/p>\n
It was also a \"shock\", he said, given an earlier consensus
\nthat officials would no longer issue such statements ahead of the
\nteam's Oct. 23 report deadline.<\/p>\n
He said the denial may have been made because the Armed
\nForces' (ABRI) leadership might have felt frustrated for failing
\nto successfully reach out to victims -- mostly Chinese-
\nIndonesians -- to verify reported cases. But this should not have
\nled them to conclude that no rapes had taken place, he argued.<\/p>\n
\"And this must be made clear to both the international and the
\nIndonesian communities, that ABRI's latest statement over the
\nrapes has been a premature one and that such a statement could
\nraise questions that could cause trouble for all of us,\" he told
\nThe Jakarta Post before a meeting at the House of
\nRepresentatives.<\/p>\n
Marzuki was asked to comment on Wiranto's statement during a
\nnews conference on ABRI's 53rd anniversary.<\/p>\n
Wiranto had said: \"The government and ABRI have made various
\nefforts to find the victims of the rapes reported to have taken
\nplace during the May 13 to May 15 unrest.\"<\/p>\n
\"These efforts have not yielded results. ABRI has also not
\nobtained concrete and convincing replies, data or proof from
\nparties that have claimed to possess important information,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Wiranto had made a similar statement in September along with
\nother senior officials, including the national police chief and
\nthe head of the state intelligence agency, to the protest of
\nhuman rights groups.<\/p>\n
Marzuki reiterated that a preliminary report, including data
\non the rape cases, had been given to ABRI two weeks ago. There
\nwas a consensus that sexual violence had occurred during the May
\nriots, he said, and that the government would no longer issue
\ndenials.<\/p>\n
When asked at the time about his earlier statements that the
\nmilitary had not found any evidence to support the rape claims,
\nWiranto had said \"wait for the investigation\".<\/p>\n
ABRI members of the fact-finding team include Military Police
\nChief Maj. Gen. Syamsu Djalal, police detective chief Maj. Gen.
\nDa'i Bachtiar and Maj. Gen. Marwan Paris from National Police
\nHeadquarters. Marzuki said \"operational coordination\" with all of
\nABRI's members in the team and \"ABRI units in the field\" was
\n\"going on well without problems\".<\/p>\n
\"So we're shocked (with ABRI's latest statement), because
\nthere has been some sort of 'dualism' within ABRI itself, between
\nits leaders and its members in the (team),\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"We agreed on the preliminary evidence. What's the point of
\nABRI's leaders making a statement that only confuses the public?<\/p>\n
\"I want to emphasize again that the rapes did occur. Now we
\nare investigating their magnitude.\"<\/p>\n
Marzuki said further that ABRI's denial on the very date of
\nits important anniversary could have meant that it and the
\ngovernment had announced a \"final policy statement\" concerning
\nthe issue.<\/p>\n
\"And we (the team) are very unhappy about that,\" Marzuki said.<\/p>\n
Activists have reported that 168 women were gang-raped or
\notherwise sexually assaulted during the mass violence here and in
\nseveral other cities in May. As many as 20 women and young girls
\neither died from their injuries, were murdered by their
\nassailants or had committed suicide. (aan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govts-latest-denial-of-mid-may-rapes-lambasted-1447893297",
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