Komnas pursues May 1998 rioters

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Those involved in the May 1998 riots may not run free much longer as the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and a group of non-governmental organizations have established separate teams to investigate the riots.

Both aim to create pressure for the holding of ad-hoc trials for those responsible for the riots.

Solahuddin Wahid, appointed to lead the Komnas HAM team, said on Monday the team would follow-up on the investigation carried out by a joint fact finding team (TGPF) in 1998.

Solahuddin, better known as Gus Solah, said that starting next month, the team would update the facts ascertained by the TGPF to convince members of House of Representatives (DPR) to recommend an ad hoc rights court be set up to try those responsible for the riots.

According to Article 43 of Law No. 26/2000 on Human Rights Tribunals, a tribunal to try gross violations of human rights is established based on a recommendation from the House and a presidential decree.

The new Komnas team, which was established last Thursday and named the May 1998 Riots Study and Advocacy Team, would recruit 15 members. Ten of these members would be those who were involved with the TGPF.

Since the TGPF first presented its findings, no efforts official government efforts have been made to uncover those behind the riots.

The TGPF investigation results, announced on Nov. 3, 1998, disclosed that several individuals or organizations were involved in inciting the riot.

They were well-trained individuals who disappeared after they succeeded in inciting the people to loot and burn stores and houses mostly belonging to Chinese Indonesians.

Moreover, the report also confirmed the occurrence of rapes and sexual attacks, although the number of victims was lower than claimed previously by several NGOs in Jakarta.

The allegation that certain individuals in the armed forces took an active role in inciting the unrest was also mentioned in the report.

With regard to the possible involvement of Let. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto in the riot, the TGPF recommended that a meeting at the headquarters of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) on May 14, 1998 be investigated.

Besides the Komnas HAM probe, a number of non-governmental organizations also established their own teams to investigate the May 1998 riots. The latest NGO team, established last week under the name of the May 1998 Riots Working Committee (KKTM) will have 16 members.

Judilherry Justam, vice chairman of the KKTM, said it would complement the work of the Komnas HAM team in terms of data validation, lobbying legislators, molding public opinion, and organizing mass rallies to demanding government and legislative commitment to the supremacy of law.

"On many occasions, the Attorney General's Office refuses the findings of gross violations of human rights recorded by Komnas HAM on the grounds of lack of comprehensive evidence. Therefore, we will try to make the findings as trustworthy as possible," he told the Post.

Judilherry was speaking on the sidelines of the announcement of the new teams' missions on Monday.

Both working teams have no structural relationship with each other, but Gus Solah said that his team would accept all input from outside sources, including from NGOs as part of civil society.

He said that his team would interview witnesses like the victims and their families, volunteers and other parties concerned with what transpired.

"There is come possibility that we will involve the military in the interviews as it is the prime suspect in the riots," Gus Solah said.

Separately, Judilherry said that the biggest obstacle that both teams would face was political pressures from the suspect individuals or organizations.

"We can analyze such pressures in the cases of gross human rights violations in Aceh and the murder of Papuan leader Theys Hiyo Eluay. What we need today is how to reveal the scenario behind the tragedy," he said.