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)