Killed students' parents vow to fight for justice
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The parents of four Trisakti University students shot dead during a protest in May 1998 said on Wednesday that they had lost faith in the government's resolve to punish those responsible, but vowed to continue fighting for justice.
"Seven years is not short time to wait, but together with those who care about justice for our children, I will not stop fighting to reveal the truth," said Lasmiati, the mother of Hery Hartanto -- one of the four students killed in front of their campus on Jl. S. Parman on May 12, 1998.
She said Trisakti University would not stop fighting to reveal the culprits in the incident.
The three others were Elang Mulya Lesmana, Hafidhin Royan and Hendriawan Sie. Their death sparked massive riots in the capital and across the country on May 13 and May 14, forcing strongman Soeharto to resign on May 21.
Lasmiati complained that four presidents had taken office since Soeharto stepped down, but there were still no signs that the truth behind the killings would be disclosed.
"I have come to conclude that there is no political will from our leaders to uncover the incident. It may be because there were too many people involved," she told The Jakarta Post.
She said initially she had high hopes that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who took office in October 2004, would order law enforcers to reopen the case of the Trisakti killings.
Unfortunately, she said, the President's will had not been supported by those authorized to enforce the law. She cited the sluggish process in investigating the death of human rights fighter Munir as the example.
A similar comment was made by Elang's mother, Hiratetty Yoganandita, better known as Tetty. She believes that the death of four students involved many "powerful men" in the country.
Tetty said that it would not be difficult to uncover the incident provided the government had strong political will.
"I think all people know who they are and who are behind them. It is not difficult to know. But I don't think that there will be a hero, who wants to point the finger at them, because if there are any, his fate may be like Munir's," said Tetty, adding the four were shot by skillful sharpshooters.
Rights campaigner Munir died on board a Garuda plane flying to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Police have said that Munir died of arsenic poisoning.
Both Tetty and Lasmiati expressed disappointment that the House of Representatives had declared the killings as ordinary human rights violations, preventing it from being brought to the ad hoc rights tribunal, which is reserved for gross human rights violations only.
"If I always thought about the incident, I would go crazy. If justice cannot be seen here now, it may be found in the hereafter," Tetty told the Post.
She said that her husband Bagus Yoganandita died on Jan. 3, 2003, due to severe psychological stress as he could not forget the death of his son.
"Therefore, I must be strong so that I can take care of my other children," she said, adding: "I leave it all to God Almighty."
Meanwhile, Hendrik Sie, the father of Hendriawan, hoped that the four students would be named as reform heroes as promised by former president B.J. Habibie.
"With such recognition, we will feel that our sons' deaths were not in vain," he said.