Family to be reunited with 'missing' activist

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)