Counting the missing

Counting the missing

The National Commission on Human Rights is once again being
challenged to spell out the truth and provide proof of the
correctness of its findings. The public spotlight is now focused
on the results of investigations conducted by the commission's
fact finding team regarding the number of victims of the July 27
riots.

According to those findings five people were killed and 74 are
missing. These findings diverge from those made public by the
Armed Forces, which said four people were killed, and made no
mention of missing persons or those who did not return home.

President Soeharto, as quoted by State Minister/State
Secretary Moerdiono, has asked the commission to provide proof of
the correctness of its findings with names, addresses, dates and
other relevant data.

We regard the President's request as of the greatest
importance. Unless properly explained, the loss of even one life
brings problems. We hope the commission will be able to comply so
that everything will become transparent. If the commission's
findings should be clearly proven to be correct, the government
and the Armed Forces will publicly accept those findings.

Pending a further announcement from the commission regarding
those findings we should all maintain our mutual trust and our
mutual respect. It would be helpful if the findings of both sides
could prove to be mutually sustaining so that the combined
findings may give an accurate picture of the number of victims.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta