Legislators meet with Chinese envoy

Legislators meet with Chinese envoy

JAKARTA (JP): Legislators met with the ambassador of the
People's Republic of China on Thursday to discuss Beijing's
perception of Indonesia following the May riots.

Golkar legislator Pinantun Hutasoit questioned Chinese
Ambassador Chen Shi Qiu on the subject during a meeting organized
by the House of Representatives Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation
Body, Antara reported on Thursday.

Many demonstrations have been staged overseas, including in
mainland China, protesting against the violence in May in which
more than 100 Chinese-Indonesians were reportedly raped in
Jakarta and other cities.

Chen Shi Qiu said the world, including China, was deeply
concerned about the May riots.

The violence, in which the Chinese-Indonesian community was
targeted, was a tragedy, he said.

Chinese-Indonesians have been a traditional target of
frustration throughout Indonesia's history mainly because they
are seen as owning a vastly disproportional amount of the
country's wealth.

The ambassador said he had met President B.J. Habibie,
government and military officials and party leaders about the
riots, adding they had all condemned the violence.

"We deeply regret the incidents. I consider they were
triggered by the social, economic and political crisis," Chen Shi
Qiu said.

He said he hoped the government-appointed joint fact-finding
team investigating the violence would reveal those responsible
for the violence to the public so that they could be brought to
justice.

"This would be very important to restore both public trust and
the economy," he said.

He stressed that his government did not intend to put the
Indonesian government in a difficult position.

The investigation's results, he said, "would greatly help
Chinese-Indonesians live in harmony together forever" with other
Indonesians.

He said the reports of rapes during the riots on the Internet
"were not taken as a fact", Antara wrote.

"We are still waiting and hoping for the results of the joint
fact-finding team's investigation... In our country rape is a
heinous crime and generates a very deep sense of vengeance," he
said. (01)