Missing activist found in the Philippines

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI) spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif said one of 12 activists still reported missing, Herman Hendrawan, has been found in the southern province of Davao in the neighboring Philippines.

"He is now staying in the house of the Indonesian consulate- general in Davao," Syamsul told reporters yesterday.

"He told officials at the consulate that he will return to Indonesia, but asked for some time to calm himself before doing so," he said.

According to Syamsul, the person who claimed to be Herman came to the consulate on Monday after residing in the town, the largest commercial town on Mindanao island, for two months. Davao is about 600 kilometers north of Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi.

However the consulate-general has yet to confirm whether the person is who he said he is.

"We cannot confirm that he is really Herman Hendrawan because he was not carrying any identification," head of Consular and Economic Affairs in Davao Taufan Adityawarman, was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday.

Munir from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) made a separate effort to confirm the report but also failed to establish whether the man in the Davao consulate was the person they had been trying to locate.

Munir told a media conference he had spoken to Hendrawan on the phone yesterday but said the person, although he had the same name, claimed he was a "different Herman Hendrawan."

"I am a kidnap victim but not the one you're looking for," Munir quoted Hendrawan as saying. "Please don't bother me."

Munir said the Hendrawan in Davao claimed he was a student at Siliwangi University in Tasikmalaya, West Java, while the missing Hendrawan on Kontras' list was a student at Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java.

Munir said the "real" Herman Hendrawan, 28, was abducted near the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation office in Central Jakarta on March 12, 1998, after proclaiming the establishment of the National Committee for Democratic Struggle (KNPD) at the office.

Munir told The Jakarta Post late yesterday that he had sent a two-member team to Davao to check if the person was the Herman they have been seeking.

"We contacted the consulate and spoke to the person claiming to be Herman Hendrawan. I am not sure that he is the Herman Hendrawan who we have been looking for," Munir told a media conference.

Munir said the person spoke with a Sundanese accent, not Javanese like the Herman who they were seeking.

"Although (the missing) Herman is from Bangka island (South Sumatra), he speaks with a Javanese accent," Munir said, adding that he knew Herman well.

Munir said that Feisol Reza and Herman's girlfriend, both of whom spoke to the man in Davao by telephone yesterday, also doubted that he was the Herman Hendrawan who they knew.

Feisol is Herman's colleague and was abducted in March but reappeared in April.

"We have faxed Herman's photograph to the consulate-general office and they only said that the person bore a 'resemblance' to (Herman Hendrawan)," Munir said.

Bodies

Meanwhile, Antara reported that villagers of Rantau Kijang in the Lampung Utara regency subdistrict of Blambangan Umpu found a total of 14 decaying human bodies adrift in the Way Umpu river 300 kilometers northwest of Bandarlampung, the provincial capital.

The findings, which occurred between July 6 and July 18, attracted the attention of Bandarlampung legal aid office and Kontras. The two organizations sent a delegation to the site because of suspicions that the bodies could have been those of the missing activists.

But Munir said yesterday that Kontras had been unable to conclude if the bodies were those of the missing activists and urged the military police to investigate the matter.

Yesterday, National Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar denied the discovery of the bodies.

"We have checked with Lampung Utara Police Precinct and based on the report, only one body was found this month (July), on July 18 to be exact.

"The body was an unidentified male, aged between 30 and 35 years of age, with light brown skin, 170 centimeters tall and weighing about 65 kilograms. The body had begun to decompose when it was found," Da'i said. (byg/imn/aan/edt)