Case closed on Priok riot: Gen. Feisal
Case closed on Priok riot: Gen. Feisal
JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung
has flatly rejected demands to reopen the investigation into a
bloody riot in Jakarta's Tanjung Priok district 12 years ago.
"That case is closed, and will never be reopened. There will
not be another investigation," Feisal was quoted by Antara as
saying on Saturday.
Rather than reviving the past, people should look to the
future, or even better, work for the future of this nation,
Feisal said while witnessing the climax of a massive military
exercise in the Natuna Islands, Riau.
The National Commission on Human Rights has received many
requests from public figures, Moslem organizations and relatives
of the victims of the riot to launch a new investigation into the
Sept. 12, 1984 incident.
They said the official account, particularly the number of
casualties given by the government, was far from satisfactory.
According to the official version, troops opened fire on the
machete-wielding protesters who rampaged after hearing fiery
anti-government sermons at a mosque in the rundown Tanjung Priok
district in North Jakarta.
The ABRI chief at the time, Gen. L.B. Moerdani, initially said
eight people were killed in the incident. A month later, he
revised the figure to 18. Moerdani later became a defense
minister before retiring from public office in 1993.
The National Commission on Human Rights, which was established
in 1993, said that because of its tight agenda, it could only
discuss the requests for a new investigation in December.
Minister of Defense and Security (Gen.) Edi Sudradjat, who was
also in Natuna on Saturday, did not rule out the possibility of
reopening the investigation, but said a new investigation would
be difficult.
"It happened so long ago. What else can you investigate, and
what do you expect to find? You should ask what is the relevance
of an investigation for something that has been (officially)
closed."
On Thursday, women and children, who said their husbands or
fathers went missing in the Sept. 12, 1984 riot, gathered to mark
the 12th anniversary of the incident at a mosque in Tanjung
Priok.
Arief Biki, whose brother Amir Biki, a preacher, was slain on
that fateful night, said he had gathered documents to give to the
human rights commission to help a new investigation.
The demands for a new investigation came after the commission
released its bold report on the bloody riots in Central Jakarta
last July.
The commission said five people were killed and 74 people went
missing in the riots. The government said that four died in the
riots, but has not referred to any missing people.
Timing
In Surabaya, Amien Rais -- a respected Moslem leader who
called for a new investigation into the Tanjung Priok riot --
said Saturday he was hopeful the National Commission on Human
Rights would agree to investigate the incident.
He agreed that a new investigation was untimely because of
heightened political tension over the approaching election.
Amien, the chairman of the educational Muhammadiyah
organization, said that relatives of the victims should pursue
their demands with political discretion but also with a sense of
justice.
"The related parties should agree on the right timing of an
investigation," said Amien, also an expert on Middle East affairs
at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.
He called on the victims' relatives to forward their demands
politely so that the government would not feel cornered, because
their well-intentioned proposal would then become counter-
productive. (emb/pan)