Govt 'should follow up' TGPF report

JAKARTA (JP): Rights activist Marzuki Darusman said on Saturday the government must follow up on the government- sponsored fact-finding team's report which suggests that elements within the Armed Forces (ABRI) were involved in the May riots.

Marzuki, who led the team, said: "The public has been informed about the content of the report, therefore it will have to be taken into account."

Known as TGPF, the team announced on Tuesday its long-awaited report which, among others, says that at least 52 women, mostly Chinese-Indonesians, were raped during the riots.

It added the root cause of the May riots was the interaction of infighting among political elites to control the national leadership, and the rapid deterioration of the economy.

The team recommended that the government conduct further investigations into a May 14 meeting at the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) headquarters to ascertain if the then Kostrad chief Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto had a role in the unrest.

Prabowo's brother, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, insisted on Wednesday it was "a very normal meeting among friends". Others who also attended the meeting said they were there to ask Prabowo about the deteriorating security in the capital during the mid- May riots.

Marzuki, the deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights, said: "We are not able to comment on any part of the report at the risk of emphasizing one part of the report at the expense of any other." He added the report started out with the assumption the riots had a political background.

The report says the May riots could be perceived as an effort to create an emergency situation which would require the invocation of extra-constitutional powers to keep the situation under control.

Minister of Defense and Security/ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto has said the team breached its authority by providing an analysis of the unrest. Marzuki, however, said that the team had "stopped short of going further than presenting the facts".

"We should allow the government to read the report first ... not prejudge it". Officials would then decide whether the report should serve as basis for further investigations, Marzuki said.

Meanwhile Antara quoted Ahmad Soemargono of the outspoken Indonesian Committee for World Moslem Solidarity (KISDI), as saying that the team appeared to have been "obsessed with Prabowo" so its conclusion was not backed up with proper statistics and other evidence. Supporting evidence presented by the team included testimony from witnesses and others involved. (byg)