Govt 'should follow up' TGPF report

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)