FPI members attacks rights commission headquarters

FPI members attacks rights commission headquarters

JAKARTA (JP): Some 300 members of the Front for Defenders of
Islam (FPI) attacked the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) Headquarters on Jl. Latuharhary in Central Jakarta
on Friday.

The assault was in protest over a report by the commission's
investigation team into the mass killing and burials in the 1984
Tanjung Priok shootings in North Jakarta.

The protesters, mostly clad in white Muslim clothes with FPI
emblems and green scarfs, arrived at the headquarters at 2 p.m.
on six trucks, scores of motorcycles and a pickup truck.

Armed with stones and one-meter-long rattan sticks, they broke
windows at both the commission building and a security post in
front of the headquarters.

Dozens of police personnel, who were deployed to safeguard the
compound, were unable to stop the violence as they were
outnumbered by the protesters.

The protesters demanded that the commission be abolished,
saying it had failed to provide a fair report on human rights
abuses in the Tanjung Priok case.

"Abolish Komnas HAM," they repeatedly shouted.

Protest coordinator M. Alwi Usman called the investigation
team's report discriminative.

"The report failed to mention the shooters. Ironically, the
commission met with some high-ranking military officers one day
before it presented the report to the House of Representatives on
Friday last week," he said.

The bloody Tanjung Priok shootings claimed the lives of 33
civilians, with as many as 24 people killed by security officers.
The remaining nine -- all family members of Tan Kioe Liem -- died
at the hands of the angry masses.

However, it is believed that the number of people killed by
security officers is much greater than the official count.

Muslim activists have repeatedly protested the way the
commission conducted the investigation, claiming that high-
ranking military officers were allegedly behind the massacre,
such as former Armed Forces (ABRI) chief Gen. (ret) L.B. Moerdani
and former vice president Gen. (ret) Try Sutrisno.

Besides protesting the team's report, the FPI members also
blasted the commission for its passive stance on the bloody
sectarian classes in Maluku.

Commission member Benjamin Mangkoedilaga, who met the
protesters, vowed that the Komnas HAM would follow up on the
group's demand.

"Lillahi Taala (It's up to God to decide)," he told FPI
representatives when asked whether the commission should be
disbanded.

Another commission member, Asmara Nababan, regretted the
violence.

"It's not necessary to be violent here as we're ready to
discuss the team's report," he told reporters after the attack.

Head of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute's (LBH Jakarta) Civil
and Political Rights Division Paulus R. Mahulette condemned the
police's manner in handling the protesters.

"The police should have protected the building, instead of
letting the violence occur," he said in a statement, copies of
which were made available to the media.

It was the second attack on the commission building after an
assault by members of the Inter-University Muslim Association
(Hammas) last Tuesday.

The Tanjung Priok massacre occurred after a clash between
military personnel and civilians following emotionally charged
lectures at Tanjung Priok's Rawa Badak Mosque by preachers, who
were reportedly criticizing the Soeharto administration.

After vandalizing the headquarters, the protesters left the
scene and drove to Mampang Prapatan Police station on Jl. Kapten
Tendean in South Jakarta. The group expressed its sympathy to the
police over an attack by an unidentified group of people on the
station last Monday, which injured three people, including a
police officer.

The group condemned the attack. "It is a bad precedent: a
certain party, giving its backing to a cafe, attacked an arm of
the law," Alwi, who is also FPI's deputy chairman, said.

After staging a five-minute oration in front of the police
station, the group moved to the Jimbani cafe, believed to be the
source of the attack on the Mampang Prapatan Police station.

On their way to the cafe, the group vandalized billboards
advertising beer products in front of several cafes, restaurants
and bars along Jl. Wijaya and Jl. Kemang Raya, all in South
Jakarta.

The protesters smashed windows at the Jimbani cafe, and some
billboards. However, they did not enter the cafe.

Jimbani's manager Rabin Iman Sutejo regretted the incident.
"But, I couldn't do anything as it was carried out by the
masses," he said, adding that the cafe would be closed for
several days.

The protesters then left for their headquarters in Petamburan,
Central Jakarta. (06/asa)