Mid-May riots were provoked by agitators: Governor

Mid-May riots were provoked by agitators: Governor

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso indicated yesterday
that the mid-May riots were not only an expression of people's
anger over the nation's economic disparity but were provoked by
agitators.

After a two-hour hearing with the government-sponsored fact-
finding team, he said there were "operators in control of the
riots".

"They were organized," he said, without elaboration.

Sutiyoso is the second government official to have testified
before the investigation team. On Wednesday, the team questioned
former Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.

Yesterday's meeting, held at the Ministry of Justice in South
Jakarta, was also attended by Deputy Governor for Administrative
Affairs Abdul Kahfi and the capital's five mayors.

Seen among the team members were Zulkarnain Yunus of the
ministry's Directorate of General Crimes, Bambang W. Soeharto of
the National Commission on Human Rights, academic Saparinah
Sadli, businesswoman Rosita S. Noer and Bambang Widjojanto of the
Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute.

Widjojanto said the team had identified a certain pattern of
agitation during the riots, which would have required a certain
level of skill to organize.

"It is easy for people to burn a car. But not all people can
burn down a high-rise building," Widjojanto quoted Sutiyoso as
saying.

Widjojanto pointed out that the riots were concentrated in
places close to slum areas. He said both Sutiyoso and Sjafrie had
recognized that the nation's economic wealth disparity
contributed to the riots.

The unrest, that occurred in the capital from May 13 to May
15, triggered lawlessness and violence in several parts of the
country.

A report by the Volunteers of Humanity has said the Jakarta
rioting was incited by people who appeared to have been well
organized. It also claimed that hundreds of women were gang-raped
during the riots.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Abdul
Gafur told nine visiting staff members of the U.S. Congress
Wednesday that reports about the rape of Chinese-Indonesian women
during the riots had been exaggerated.

"We do not rule out the possibility that gang rapes occurred,
yet the reports have been exaggerated by certain parties," Gafur
told the delegation, as quoted by Antara.

The U.S. Congress staff members included Daniel E. Bob who
works for Senator Roth on Asia-Pacific Affairs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that pictures
labeled as May rapes circulating on the Internet were fakes.

Spokesman Ghaffar Fadyl quoted a report in the Asian Wall
Street Journal that the photos were taken from the pornographic
website Sexy Asian Schoolgirls which had nothing to do with the
mid-May riots.

The daily's correspondents Jeremy Wagstaff and Jay Solomon
reportedly mentioned a picture of a naked, bleeding woman as
coming from a collection called the Gore Gallery, in Houston,
Texas, U.S.A.

The picture came into the hands of Michael Hames nine months
ago, according to Antara.

Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen.
Wiranto submitted a police report to a weekly cabinet meeting
Wednesday that said the police had investigated 103 reports of
rape during the May riots but had yet to find any evidence to
support the claims of widespread sexual assaults made by various
groups. (imn)