Killed students' parents vow to fight for justice

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.