Group to looks into reports of sexual abuse during riots

JAKARTA (JP): Women's rights group Mitra Perempuan said yesterday it would conduct its own inquiry into numerous reports of sexual abuse of women during the rioting last month.

The group's executive director Rita Serena Kolibonso told The Jakarta Post it was prompted to launch its own investigation because of the litany of reports of rape, abuse and public humiliation of women, particularly those of Chinese descent.

She said the investigation would proceed despite the fact the police had not registered any sexual abuse cases during riots which swept through Jakarta and surrounding areas from May 13 to May 15.

"We have found dozens of cases, but it could be more than 100 by the time we complete the investigation," Rita said.

Central Jakarta police chief Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said there had been no reports of riot-related sexual assaults, but invited people to speak up with any complaints.

"Don't hesitate to come forward, although we know that they (sexual assault victims) are in a difficult situation."

Rita said most of the assaults took place in West Jakarta, where thousands of buildings were looted and burned in three days of violence sparked by the fatal shooting of four Trisakti University students by security forces on May 12.

In a statement made available here, the group said a mob stripped and molested a number of Chinese-Indonesian women before forcing them to swim in a stagnant pond in the Daan Mogot area.

It also said that an unspecified number of women were gang- raped in front of a crowd in the city's commercial district of Glodok and dozens of others were sexually harassed in their homes.

"I believe that these brutal acts were done by an organized group," Rita said.

The National Commission on Human Rights said Tuesday that it would investigate reports of rape.

Commission member Clementino dos Reis Amaral said it would also investigate reported cases of sexual abuse during recent riots in the North Sumatra capital of Medan, the Central Java city of Surakarta and East Java capital of Surabaya.

The commission said earlier this week that at least 1,188 people were killed during the riots.

The figure is more than twice official estimates made by the military, which the rights body accused of doing too little, too late to quell the violence and save lives.

"The commission had received reports of ... the killings of 1,188 people and 101 injuries along with some cases of rape," the commission said in a report.

It said 40 shopping centers, 2,479 shop/houses and 1,604 shops were attacked, burned or looted, along with 1,119 vehicles, 1,026 private homes and 383 offices.

It noted that security forces had failed to anticipate warning signs rioting would erupt. Moreover, when the violence started "there were no signs of serious efforts by the security forces to prevent the spread of the rioting".

The commission urged the government to "thoroughly investigate security apparatus for letting, not preventing or immediately dealing with the riots".

It also called for an inquiry into allegations that much of the violence had been the work of "well-organized groups who started the rioting and burnings".

In a three-page statement, the commission noted that Chinese- Indonesians were frequent targets in the unrest. (byg/rms/edt)