The May tragedy now in House's court<\/p>\n
Hera Diani and Tiarma Siboro
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
As the May 1998 riots remain unfinished business amid four
\nadministrations and two independent investigations, activists say
\nthat the ball is now in the House of Representatives' court.<\/p>\n
Usman Hamid, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing
\nPersons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) urged the House to
\npropose the establishment of an ad hoc human rights tribunal so
\nthat all suspects can be summoned.<\/p>\n
The demand arose as there has been no sign from the Attorney
\nGeneral's Office (AGO) that it will follow up the investigation
\ninto the tragedy by the National Commission on Human Rights
\n(Komnas HAM), although the latter had found systematic gross
\nhuman rights violations committed in the riots.<\/p>\n
\"There has been an ongoing debate between the rights body team
\nand the investigators at the Attorney General's Office. We think
\nthere is enough evidence to prove that crimes against humanity
\nhave been committed. But the AGO thinks otherwise,\" Usman told
\nThe Jakarta Post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He added that according to Article 43 of Law No. 26\/2000 on
\nhuman rights, the House has the right to propose the
\nestablishment of an ad hoc human rights tribunal which must be
\nendorsed by the government.<\/p>\n
\"The reasons for the establishment are clear: Human rights
\nviolations have been committed, there is enough evidence
\navailable and the investigations from the rights body,\" Usman
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The tragedy from May 13 through May 15, 1998 preceded the end
\nof 32 years of authoritarian rule of now ailing president
\nSoeharto.<\/p>\n
Anarchy broke out in Jakarta during riots in which more than
\n1,000 people were killed, and more than 60 women, mostly Chinese-
\nIndonesians, were gang raped or victims of other sexual violence
\nin three days of bloodshed, arson and turmoil.<\/p>\n
However, nobody has been held accountable and sent to prison
\nfor the tragedy.<\/p>\n
The 16-member independent team set up by Komnas HAM in March
\n2003 was not able to get most of the suspects to respond to
\nsummonses.<\/p>\n
They include the then Jakarta Military Commander Lt. Gen.
\nSjafrie Sjamsoeddin (now the Ministry of Defense secretary-
\ngeneral) and Sjafrie's former assistant Maj. Gen. Tritamtomo (now
\nthe Bukit Barisan Military Commander).<\/p>\n
Regarding the number of victims, the Indonesian Military sent
\na letter in April to the Post saying that \"An investigation is
\nneeded to verify the correctness of the report that there were
\nthousands of victims in the riots as otherwise the report is just
\nan assumption\".<\/p>\n
Usman said that it was the AGO's job to verify the results of
\nthe investigation, including the number of victims.<\/p>\n
I Ketut Murtika, the director of gross human rights violations
\ncases at the AGO said that the office was willing to resolve the
\ncase if there was enough evidence.<\/p>\n
\"Unfortunately, there isn't. The witnesses' testimony is not
\nvalid because it is only based on what they heard, not saw. It is
\nalso difficult to find people with expertise in human rights who
\ncan testify,\" he told the Post.<\/p>\n
Murtika added that there was no clear regulation that could
\nforce military commanders to be responsible for their
\nsubordinate's wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
He also asked the government to review the Human Rights Law
\nwhich according to him, gives too little time (240 days) to
\nconduct an investigation into such a complicated case.<\/p>\n
Usman said that Murtika's reasons were baseless as based on
\nArticle 42 of the Human Rights Law, military commanders can be
\nheld accountable for their subordinate's wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
\"About the witnesses, they are indeed witnesses who lost their
\nchildren, and saw with their own eyes that a group of men dressed
\nin military uniform poured gasoline into a mall and deliberately
\nlocked people inside,\" Usman said.<\/p>",
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