Rights body says 77 people missing in Banjarmasin<\/p>\n
BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan (JP): Seventy-seven people are
\nstill missing after the May 23 riot in the South Kalimantan
\ncapital of Banjarmasin, the National Commission on Human Rights
\nannounced yesterday.<\/p>\n
When announcing the preliminary findings of its investigation
\ninto the riot, commission secretary-general Baharuddin Lopa
\nconfirmed the authorities' report that 123 people had died in the
\nriot.<\/p>\n
Only three of the victims have been identified by relatives.
\nThe burnt remains of the other 120 were buried Saturday near
\nBanjarmasin.<\/p>\n
When asked what had happened to the 77 missing people, Lopa
\nsaid: \"Security personnel are searching for them.\"<\/p>\n
Tanjungpura military commander Maj. Gen. Namuri Anoem S. and
\ninvestigation team members Asmara Nababan, Sjamsudin, Soetandyo
\nand M. Salim also attended the press conference.<\/p>\n
The riot began when supporters of the Moslem-based United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP) fought supporters of Golkar, which was
\nholding its last round of campaigning in the city on May 23.<\/p>\n
The PPP supporters were reportedly angry because Golkar had
\nstarted campaigning before Moslems had finished their Friday
\nprayers.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of houses, several shops, supermarkets, cinemas,
\nchurches, hotels were vandalized or burned by rioters in what
\nresidents called \"eight hours of anarchy\".<\/p>\n
Security personnel, greatly outnumbered by the estimated
\n50,000 rioters, could do little to stop the riot until
\nreinforcements arrived from outside the province at about
\nmidnight.<\/p>\n
In the cleanup after the riot, Police discovered 123 charred
\nbodies, including 121 bodies on the second story of the town's
\nlargest shopping center, Mitra Plaza.<\/p>\n
Police said the 121 were looters who had been trapped by the
\nfire. The supermarket was reportedly closed soon after the riot
\nerupted at about 2 p.m. Rioters forced their way into the
\nbuilding in the evening when the fire started<\/p>\n
Lopa said the commission could not accept that all the victims
\nwere looters, saying they might include people who had had no
\nintention of stealing from the shopping center.<\/p>\n
\"They might have been curious to know what was happening on
\nthe second story but unfortunately could not escape,\" said Lopa.<\/p>\n
Dismissing a rumor that security personnel had fired on the
\ncrowd and then threw their bodies into the blaze, Lopa said the
\nteam believed the crowd could not escape from Mitra Plaza's
\nsecond story because of a lack of oxygen and the difficulty of
\nfinding an exit.<\/p>\n
Lopa said there were human rights violations in the riot,
\nincluding violations of property rights and human dignity. But
\nthe team could not yet say who was responsible for the
\nviolations. He refused to say if the team could ever make such a
\nconclusion.<\/p>\n
Lopa said the team had not found evidence that the riot was
\nracially or religiously motivated.<\/p>\n
Of the 181 people arrested during and after the riot, only 83
\nsuspects remained in custody, Lopa said.<\/p>\n
The team urged police to be more careful about detaining
\nsuspects since some of them might not have committed crimes in
\nthe riot.<\/p>\n
During its stay in Banjarmasin from Friday to Sunday, the team
\nmet suspects, police, military, leaders of political
\norganizations, religious leaders, students of Lambung Mangkurat
\nUniversity and reporters for the Banjarmasin Post local daily.
\nThey also inspected Mitra Plaza. (jsk)<\/p>",
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