Irian activists fail to attend press conference
Irian activists fail to attend press conference
JAKARTA (JP): Four Irianese, who were reportedly abducted by
military officials earlier last month and released only last
week, failed to show up yesterday for a press conference meant to
explain their whereabouts during the time they were missing.
Reverend Abimelech Michael Woriyassy and youth activists Yusak
Samuel Wonatorey, Hengky Jokhu and Samuel Satia failed to appear
as scheduled at the office of the Foundation of the Indonesian
Legal Aid Institute. A relative of Hengky Jokhu said he had got
threatening phonecalls.
Dadang Trisasongko, a lawyer at the institute, said the four
did not tell the foundation why they could not appear in public.
"I regret this. Their appearance would have been invaluable to
our effort to enforce the law," he told The Jakarta Posts.
"This could set a bad precedence. Arbitrary arrests might
happen again in the future," he said.
He said the press conference was scheduled to reveal to the
public what happened to the four Irianese after they were
reportedly unlawfully arrested by the military.
"We told the press they went missing," Dadang said. "Now that
they have been released, we think it is necessary for them to
explain what happened to them, where they were detained during
the period they were reportedly missing."
Dadang said that a few Irianese youth activists had also been
receiving calls from unidentified people asking them not to go to
the press conference.
Hengky's sister-in-law told the Post that her sister, Hengky's
wife, received two threatening telephone calls from a person
claiming to be a military official.
"The person threatened to harm my brother-in-law if he
appeared in the press conference," she said.
Reverend Michael was taken from his home in West Jakarta
together with Yusak on the morning of March 19.
Bambang Widjojanto, chairman of the legal aid foundation's
executive board, said at a recent meeting with the National
Commission on Human Rights that Michael was interrogated at the
West Jakarta Military District about the recent riots in
Jayapura, the capital of Irian Jaya.
The riots broke out after locals were prevented from paying
their last respects to separatist leader Thomas Wapay Wainggai
who died on March 12 in Cipinang prison in Jakarta, and whose
body was flown to Irian Jaya for burial at home. Four people,
including an off-duty military official, died in the incident.
Michael was released on the same day after ten hours of
interrogation, while Yusak, who was taken to a different place,
was released on March 29.
Bambang said that Michael was also questioned about his
relationship with several Irianese separatist leaders, including
Kelly Kwalik, Daniel Kogoya and Moses Weror.
Samuel Satia and Hengky Jokhu were taken on March 20 and March
25 respectively. Both of them were released on the same day as
Yusak. (imn)