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)