Jakarta riots were 'spontaneous acts'

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said Saturday the mid-May unrest that claimed thousands of lives and huge material losses was spontaneous.

Speaking to reporters at the Army's Special Force's headquarters at Cijantung, East Jakarta, Sjafrie said, however, some of the riots were sporadically organized by small groups in certain areas in Greater Jakarta.

These groups had no direct links to each other, he stressed.

"The members of each group became spontaneously involved in the riots but we have not ruled out the possibility that the people were tied by emotional links," the two-star general said.

Sjafrie admitted that security officers have been investigating a former hoodlum, who has become a student at a Moslem boarding school, for allegedly organizing one group of rioters.

"We received reports from people that he was around when a riot hit an area," he said without mentioning the area concerned.

Sjafrie refused to name the suspect but a reliable military source said that the man was Anton Medan, a convict-turned- preacher.

Calls for an immediate government investigation into the May 13-May 15 riots have come from President B.J. Habibie, legislators, opposition figures and various other groups, including the Coordinating Body for National Unity (Bakom PKB) and the Indonesian New Brotherhood Association (Persabi).

Official military reports said the death toll from the three days of unrest was 499 while material losses totaled Rp 2.5 trillion (US$178 million) in Greater Jakarta alone.

The National Commission on Human Rights recently came up with a figure of at least 1,188 people killed during the riots.

Last Thursday President Habibie, in his capacity as the Armed Forces (ABRI) supreme commander, told ABRI's top brass to dig out the truth over allegations that "an organized group" was behind the recent riot.

On the next day, House Speaker Harmoko followed Habibie's move by appealing to ABRI's top brass to investigate whether there was a mastermind behind the riot.

"The House warmly welcomes the statement by the defense and security minister/armed forces commander that ABRI will thoroughly probe whether there was a mastermind of the riots," he said.

On the same day, opposition figure Emil Salim urged the government to establish an independent commission to reveal the truth about the cause of the riot.

"The commission should be able to inform the people about who was behind the riots as soon as possible," he said, as quoted by Antara.

According to Emil, the body should include members of the National Commission on Human Rights and other credible experts.

The establishment of an independent commission, he said, would prove to the people that the government was serious about protecting all sections of society from fear, including Chinese- Indonesians.

According to Sjafrie, many rioters were members of the public who had been suffering from the country's prolonged social and economic disparities.

Excited passersby, including women and children, reportedly joined the looting and riots, he said.

"We have detained some of the alleged rioters, but any detentions should follow legal procedures," he said.

During the investigation, some of the rioters admitted that they were outsiders from Tangerang and Lampung in Sumatra.

"The rest of the alleged rioters were from the local neighborhoods," he added. (ivy)