Activists angered by police chief's statement on rapes

JAKARTA (JP): Rights activists lashed out yesterday at National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Roesmanhadi who recently accused some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of exaggerating reports of rapes and sexual assaults against Chinese Indonesian women during the May riot here and in other cities.

"His statement was unethical and it was a dismissal of the ongoing investigation by the (government-sponsored) joint fact- finding team into the May riots," Bambang Widjojanto, director of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, told reporters at his office in Central Jakarta.

Roesmanhadi said that if the NGOs failed to come up with evidence and continued their claims of gang rapes occurring then they could be charged with spreading rumors.

"By that statement, he failed to create a positive atmosphere that (could encourage) witnesses to come forward," said Bambang, who is also member of the fact-finding team.

The government established a team last month which includes representatives from the Armed Forces (ABRI), government agencies, the National Commission on Human Rights and non- governmental organizations to investigate reports that the riots, which left more than 1,200 people killed, were masterminded.

Bambang said that the team will begin this week to hear testimonies of a number of witnesses of the riots, including those who had been raped or sexually abused.

Separately, rights campaigner Marzuki Darusman, who heads the 24-member team, told The Jakarta Post that Roesmanhadi denied he had made such a statement.

"He told me today that the media misunderstood him," said Marzuki, who is also deputy chairman of the rights body.

He also said the team will hold a media briefing to clarify the matter at the Ministry of Justice today, after a meeting with members of the Civil Society on Violence Against Women led by Saparinah Sadli.

Activists, including those in the Volunteers for Humanity led by Catholic priest Sandyawan Sumardi, have said that 168 women and children were raped and sexually assaulted during the riots, of whom 20 died or committed suicide.

The rights body has confirmed that the rapes and sexual assaults were perpetrated systematically by unidentified group of people during the riots.

Several members of the rights body and the group had talked to the victims of the sexual abuses enough to become convinced they had occurred.

Meanwhile, in Surabaya, a group who called itself Council for Surabaya Students and Youth Reform issued a statement saying that pictures of alleged rapes and riots widely circulating in Indonesia and in Singapore were fake.

"They are lies and political engineering launched by certain groups," said the youths as quoted by Antara. The youths did not name the groups but said their investigation showed the pictures were not of the riots that took place on May 13-14, 1998, but those related to rights violations in East Timor.

The pictures, according to the group, were already published in Free East Timor (1998) by Jim Aubrey.

Isa Anshori and Andi Achmad Sanusi of the youth group said teams of volunteers campaigning for the cause of the rape victims needed to explain why they used those pictures. (byg)