Government to study riot report

JAKARTA (JP): The government promised yesterday to study the findings of the National Commission on Human Rights's investigation into the July 27 riots. Some of the revelations differ markedly from the official account of the unrest.

"I will take the commission's report to the next coordinating meeting on political affairs and security," Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman told reporters after receiving nine of the commission's leaders in his office.

"I will also consult the President on these findings," Soesilo said.

In its report published Saturday, the commission criticized the government for meddling in the internal affairs of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), and said this contributed to the unrest that left five people dead and 23 people missing.

In one of the five corpses fragments of bullets were found, the commission said. This contrasts with the military's assertion that not a single bullet was fired in containing the unrest.

The commission also said that members of the security apparatus were involved in the violent takeover of the PDI headquarters from supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri, an incident that later snowballed into a full-scale riot.

Soesilo praised the commission's findings as "seriously and diligently prepared."

But whether the government will act on them depends on the study, Soesilo said. "We have no objections against the findings. But we need to verify them."

The commission said there were some violations of people's basic rights during the incident, including the right to freedom from fear, freedom of assembly and freedom from inhumane treatment.

The commission urged the government to investigate all of the riots' perpetrators, including the new PDI chairman Soerjadi, who ordered the headquarters' takeover.

It also recommended that the government and other related agencies help those whose property and businesses had suffered during the unrest.

The government said four people were killed but says it has no report or evidence of any missing people.

The government has blamed the riot on the Democratic People's Party (PRD), an organization of mainly youth and student activists whom the Armed Forces likened to the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party.

Several PRD members, along with labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan, are currently being interrogated by the Attorney General's Office in connection with the riot. They have been charged with subversion.

The commission report made no reference to any PRD role in the riot.

At a separate occasion, the Chief of the Jakarta Regional Military Command, Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso, insisted yesterday that no rifles were fired by the military in handling the unrest.

On the day of the riot, members of the security forces were equipped with wooden or rattan batons, Sutiyoso was quoted by Antara as saying.

Speaking to reporters after installing Brig. Gen. Yudomo as the new commander of the Jakarta Garrison, Sutiyoso said soldiers were only issued with rifles on Monday, when the military gave the order to shoot on sight in the event of any sign of trouble.

Megawati, the ousted PDI chairperson who lost control of the party headquarters after the July 27 riot, welcomed the commission's report yesterday but said that it did not go far enough.

The commission should have given more details of the locations where the victims were found, Megawati told reporters when she attended the trial of some of her supporters charged with assault during the July 27 riot.

The report should also have stated clearly the locations where the missing people were last seen, she said.

Megawati said that the report should have described the type of gun used that caused the bullet wound found in the dead victim. (imn/16)

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