Local group seeks UN help to probe May riots
JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Volunteers of Humanity have said they received a positive response at a hearing with a United Nations Sub-Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, on a plea to send a team of international investigators to probe the causes of the May riots.
"We requested the sub-commission recommend members of the International Commission of Jurists come to help us here," Catholic priest Sandyawan Sumardi, secretary of the volunteer group, said here yesterday.
However he could not say when a final decision would be made.
"We have just arrived (from our trip) so we are still waiting for their answer. But I believe they will grant our request."
The group returned at the weekend from an overseas trip which included a hearing in front of the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
They also presented their findings on the May riots to United States Congressmen in Washington D.C..
Sandyawan said the arrival of the international jurists would enable a fair investigation on the riots to proceed.
The volunteer group was the first to reveal the true extent of the devastating riots which left at least 1,200 people dead and thousands of buildings destroyed or looted.
The targeting of ethnic Chinese establishments and the sexual abuse of women were also disclosed as a feature of the unrest.
Sandyawan admitted that one reason he called for an international team to come was his doubt that the government's own team would succeed in it work.
"I doubt that the fact-finding team established by the government will work efficiently and transparently," he said, referring to the joint team set up by the government to investigate the riots and uncover their mastermind.
The 19-member team, of which Sandyawan is a member, comprises representatives of the National Commission on Human Rights, the military, and some non-governmental organizations.
Sandyawan said the hearings were also a good opportunity for the group to explain to the outside world that the riots were not racially motivated.
"The riots were not a matter of racism but designed by certain groups and used ethnic issues to trigger people's anger," he charged.
The international outcry at the riots and sexual abuse of women during the May unrest continued yesterday as Singapore's most prominent women's group urged the UN to impose political and economic sanctions if the rapes recurred.
Petition
The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) is circulating a petition on the sanctions, which it plans to present to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The petition "calls for political and economic sanctions against Indonesia" if the rapes happen again, AWARE president Phyllis Chew said.
Talk of sanctions is rare in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose member countries adhere to a strict policy of noninterference in one another's domestic affairs.
But Chew said the move expressed the feelings of a growing number of people in Singapore.
"We are an NGO (non-government organization), so I think we have a right to say what we feel," Chew said as quoted by DPA. "It's up to political leaders to decide whether (the sanctions) are feasible or not."
AWARE issued a public call for justice last month over the rapes. But Chew said they were taking further action due to an overwhelming response.
"Many people have called up and said: 'We can't just stop there, we're not doing enough... we want to be involved,'" she said.
The Singapore women's group plans to hold a "solidarity day" for the Indonesian rape victims today, and is inviting the public to its center to sign the petition. (emf)