1998 violence a crime against humanity: Team

1998 violence a crime against humanity: Team

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An ad hoc team set up by the National Commission on Human Rights
declared on Monday that crimes against humanity were committed
during the bloody riots on May 13 and May 14, 1998, and urged the
Attorney General's Office to launch an investigation based upon
its findings.

It also identified some 20 civilians and military officers as
being behind the disturbances.

"The ad hoc team concluded that there were gross human rights
violations, including crimes against humanity, during the riots
in May 1998," Solahuddin Wahid, who led the ad hoc team
investigating the riots, said during a press conference here on
Monday.

Solahuddin said that the team had submitted its report to the
National Commission on Human Rights and it was expected that it
would be forwarded to the Attorney General's Office.

"We hope that the Attorney General's Office will set up an
investigating team with a view to bringing prosecutions," he
said, adding that the rights commission would continue to monitor
the progress made in the case by the Attorney General's Office.

He said the team's investigation revealed that the riots were
"widespread and systematic", and therefore met two major criteria
for a crime against humanity.

According to the team, the riots were the result of a
systematic plan as shown by the fact that the attacks were
targeted at a particular ethnic group and that the authorities
failed to contain them, thus allowing the riots to spread.

"We confirmed the fact that some Indonesian citizens did not
get sufficient legal protection from state officers," said team
member M.M. Billah, who also attended the media briefing.

"(Our findings) show that security officers failed to act
properly and correctly. There was also a tendency to let the
riots occur by not diverting the mobs away from the riot scenes
or preventing the riots from spreading," Billah added.

The security authorities' actions, according to the ad hoc
team, were intentional as Indonesian Armed Forces' intelligence
had earlier predicted possible riots in Jakarta in May 1998.

"The ad hoc team believes that these incidents were not
spontaneous acts. They were organized and instigated," said
Billah, who is also known for his criticism of the military
operation in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

Moreover, Jakarta at the time was subject to two special
security operations -- Operasi Mantab Jaya III and Operasi Mantab
Brata -- meaning that the city was being guarded by an unusually
larger number of security personnel.

Solahuddin declined to name the suspects, citing the need to
uphold the presumption of innocence.

"We can't name them, but there are some 20 (officials)
involved," he said.

The ad hoc team questioned dozens of victims and witnesses,
including a number of police and military officers who were on
duty at the time of the riots.

However, some military officials, including Gen. (ret)
Wiranto, Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto and Maj. Gen. Sjafrie
Sjamsoeddin, refused to respond to the team's inquiries.

In its report, the ad hoc team contended that the suspects
were responsible for the gross human rights' violations that
occurred during the riots.

Billah said that the disturbances were part of "the repressive
methods employed by the New Order regime, which apparently wanted
to eliminate all opposition from society."

Solahuddin said he was optimistic that the case would be
brought to court, unlike the Trisakti shootings which occurred
only days before the May riots.

He said the House of Representatives, which had declared that
no gross human rights violations had occurred during the Trisakti
shootings, had yet to make any decision on the May riots.

"The Attorney General's Office cannot hide behind the House of
Representatives in this case. There is no logical reason not to
proceed with the case," Solahuddin said, adding that his team
expected to meet with the House soon.

During the May riots -- which followed the fatal shooting of
four Trisakti University students who were taking part in a
nationwide wave of rallies demanding the resignation of President
Soeharto -- hundreds of shops, shopping centers and homes were
looted and set ablaze.

No state security officers were around to prevent the crimes,
except for those hired by businesspeople to guard their assets
before the rampage even started.

Soeharto eventually resigned on May 21 and was succeeded by
his vice president, B.J. Habibie.

The riots, which turned into anti-Chinese pogroms, claimed a
total of 1,217 lives, according to the Volunteer Team for
Humanity.

A fact-finding team led by former National Commission on Human
Rights' deputy chairman Marzuki Darusman confirmed the report and
found that at least 66 women, mostly of Chinese ethnicity, had
been raped.

No action has ever been taken against the perpetrators despite
the fact that the country has since seen three different
presidents since Soeharto.