Ex-convict denies instigating riots

JAKARTA (JP): An ex-convict has denied an allegation made by security forces that he was one of the organizers of the violent mid-May riots, which claimed thousands of lives and caused huge material losses.

Anton Medan, an Indonesian of Chinese descent who is now a Moslem preacher, said the allegation was totally groundless and his accusers were just looking for an easy target as a scapegoat.

"It's slander!" Anton told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

According to the former hoodlum, he was among a crowd along Jl. Gunung Sahari in Central Jakarta during the riot, but only to call on people not to destroy shops and other buildings.

"I did that because I am a preacher," he said.

Thanks to his calls, he said, the mobs only stoned property and did not set any buildings on fire.

Anton, who served time in jail for a series of crimes, also vowed that he did not know any of the rioters.

The Jakarta Military Police summoned him on Friday and asked him to explain why he was among the crowds during the riots. He said he decided to meet the request at the suggestion of his lawyers from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute.

"We will meet a second summon if there is one because we will be more ready for it," Anton said.

He said he had never thought about organizing people, such as hoodlums, to engineer a riot only to see many ethnic Chinese, like himself, become victims.

Anton said he and several riot victims, mostly traders, visited the National Commission on Human Rights on May 29, blasting the rioters.

"How could I then be accused of organizing the riots?" he queried.

Calling themselves the Big Family of Indonesians of Chinese Descent, Anton and the traders also complained to the commission about the lack of security during the unrest.

Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin indicated on June 13 that the military was investigating a former hoodlum under suspicion of organizing a group of rioters.

Sjafrie said the unrest was spontaneous, but some of the riots were sporadically organized by small groups in certain areas in Greater Jakarta. (jun)