Family to be reunited with 'missing' activist

JAKARTA (JP): Family members of Haryanto Taslam, an Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) politician who disappeared under strange circumstances a month ago, are due to meet him today in Surabaya after receiving an unexpected phone call summoning them to the East Java capital.

"Mas Haryanto called his wife from Surabaya Thursday night and told her to visit him in Surabaya," Haryanto's sister-in-law Yuli, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

According to Yuli, Haryanto's wife, Ani Agustina, his parents will go to Surabaya. However she refused to reveal the location of today's meeting.

Haryanto, a loyal supporter of ousted PDI leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, disappeared from a hotel in East Jakarta on March 9.

PDI members and close relatives claim that it is highly likely that his disappearance was politically motivated.

"We don't know exactly where he is staying in Surabaya, but we are happy to hear that he is still alive," said Yuli.

While he has not talked to Haryanto himself, the secretary of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, Munir, still believes that Haryanto was kidnapped by "certain people" for his outspokenness.

"Haryanto resides in Jakarta and then released in Surabaya in an attempt to confuse his family and relatives," Munir claimed yesterday.

Without elaborating Munir said it was unlikely that Haryanto would return to his home here in Jakarta anytime soon or dare to reveal where he had disappeared to in the last month. (prb)