Long-suffering protesters meet Mursidi
Long-suffering protesters meet Mursidi
JAKARTA (JP): Activists and thirty relatives of victims of
last year's Trisakti and Semanggi shootings on Thursday waited
for six hours before they could meet with Jakarta Military Police
chief Col. Mungkono Mursidi to demand follow-up investigations.
While Mursidi was out of the office, duty officers at the
Jakarta Military Police Headquarters prevented the protesters,
mostly women in their fifties, from entering the compound. The
protesters, arrived at 11 a.m., then staged a sit-down in front
of the headquarters on the sidewalk of Jl. Sultan Agung in South
Jakarta.
The protest obstructed traffic, stranding passing vehicles and
motorcycles.
The protesters included parents of the students killed in the
fatal shootings, university students and several activists from
the Team of Volunteers for Humanity. The students and the
activists are grouped under the Association of the Victims of
Political Violence.
The military police was urged to make every effort to reveal
the names of military officers believed to have been involved in
the two incidents.
Cecep, father of Engkus Kusnadi -- one of the victims of the
Semanggi shooting, said a staff member at military police
Headquarters Maj. Wempy Hapan promised relatives last week that
Military Police chief Col. Mungkono Mursidi would meet with them
on Thursday.
By 2 p.m. on Thursday the commander was still not available. A
staff member from his office said Mungkono was attending a
meeting at city Military Command Headquarters.
The military police chief eventually appeared and met the
relatives of the victims and the activists at 5:15 p.m..
While quoting coordinator of the protest, Azas Tigor
Nainggolan, Mursidi said the case is now handled by the National
Military Police headquarters.
"The Jakarta Military Police headquarters is only a small
element in the investigation," he said.
A scuffle occurred after students and activists suspected an
identified young man as a military intelligence member.
The protesters chased the fleeing man and hit him several
times before security personnel escorted him to the safety of the
military police building.
Four students were fatally shot in the last May's Trisakti
incident in West Jakarta, while 16 people, including eight
students, were killed last November in the Semanggi incident in
Central Jakarta.
The military's internal investigation report revealed that the
bullets, which killed the students and other people in both
incidents, were fired from military members' rifles. (asa)