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)