Commission wants serious probe into student killings

Commission wants serious probe into student killings

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights called on the House of Representatives to be more serious in its investigation of the student killings at Trisakti University in 1998 and the Semanggi cloverleaf in 1998 and 1999.

Commission chairman Djoko Sugianto said the House was the only institution to which the relatives of the victims in the three bloody incidents could turn to for justice.

He said the rights body had no authority to investigate the killings which occurred before the 1999 Law on Human Rights took effect.

"The commission set up a fact-finding team to investigate the student killings but this was done by us in our capacity as a monitoring body as stipulated in the 1993 presidential decree," he said at a meeting with the House special committee investigating the student killings.

Also attending the meeting were several other members of the rights body and relatives of the victims.

Outside the House compound, hundreds of students from Trisakti University staged a peaceful demonstration, demanding an ad hoc trial of the retired Army and police generals held responsible by them for the tragedies.

Djoko asserted that the student killings at Trisakti University and the Semanggi cloverleaf were in reality major human rights violations by any standards, be they those of international human rights conventions, the 1945 Constitution or the 2000 Law on the Human Rights Tribunal.

"The shooting dead of dozens of unarmed students inside the gates of their campus is a serious violation of human rights," Djoko said.

The student killings, nevertheless, were classified as crimes against humanity rather than genocide. But this had to be proven in court.

Djoko said that those who shot the students and those who were responsible for the shootings must be brought before a court. But he warned that it remained a mystery as to who they really were.

"The special committee should analyze all the information it has collected, and all the testimony given by the witnesses and the officials involved, and draw conclusions from these," he said.

At least four students from Trisakti University were shot dead at an antigovernment rally on May 12, 1998, that led to the downfall of former strongman Soeharto.

At least 16 students were shot dead at the Semanggi cloverleaf in Oct. 13, 1998, as they protested the convening of a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly, and ten others were also shot in Semanggi on Sept. 24, 1999, as they protested against the passage of the state security law.

Bambang Soeharto, a member of the rights body, said he was near the campus of Trisakti University when the student killings occurred.

He came to Jakarta Police headquarters only hours after the incident and received a confirmation from the then chief of the Jakarta Police Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata and then chief of the National Police Gen. Dibyo Widodo that none of the security forces deployed near the campus had used life bullets.

"But, I received information from the university's rector and a security guard that the victims had been killed by live rounds," he said.

Djoko suggested that the special commission reach a conclusion based on its investigation and present its findings to the House plenary session for endorsement.

"Based on the results, the House should recommend that the government investigate the incidents thoroughly and let the courts try the cases in accordance with the law," he said.

Panda Nababan, chairman of the special committee, said the investigation would be completed by the end of this month and the findings presented to a House plenary session for approval.

He, however, declined to reveal what conclusions the special committee would draw from its investigation. (rms)