Missing activists file 'still unopened'

Missing activists file 'still unopened'

JAKARTA (JP): Marzuki Darusman of the National Commission on
Human Rights urged police yesterday to probe the disappearance of
two non-governmental organization activists early last month.

Marzuki, deputy chairman of the commission, said officers
should have taken action as soon as they received reports from
the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute and the Indonesian Legal Aid and
Human Rights Association (PBHI).

"They could have moved based on those reports."

Fransisca Sri Haryatni, the mother of Pius Lustrilanang, an
activist of Siaga -- a loose association which supports self-
styled presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri and
government critic Amien Rais -- went to the commission yesterday
to ask about the whereabouts of her son. Pius was reported
missing on Feb. 4.

Another activist, Desmond J. Mahesa, a director of the
Nusantara Legal Aid Foundation, was also reported missing on Feb.
3, a day after he was visited by military intelligence agents,
according to his associates.

Sri said that she only knew about the disappearance of her son
through the media before being contacted by Pius' friends on Feb.
11.

"I just want to know whether my son is still alive; where he
is now or if he is already dead I want to pray for his soul."

She said that Pius last contacted his family a week before
being reported missing.

Sri, who arrived here from Palembang Sunday night, was
accompanied yesterday by her lawyer from LBH Jakarta, Daniel
Panjaitan, and her son's friends.

Soegiri, a member of the human rights commission who received
Sri, said the commission would send another letter to the Jakarta
and West Java police and the Jakarta and West Java Siliwangi
military commands.

Asked whether the commission would repeatedly send the letter
if the authorities did not respond, Soegiri said: "We have
countless tasks, so we cannot just concentrate on one problem.
And we cannot constantly send them letters, it would be far too
much."

The commission sent the authorities letters on Feb. 12 and
March 5, he said.

Marzuki said the disappearance of the two activists was
unusual and it was probably linked to recent social unrest.

"It should not merely be regarded as a political incident
because they were trying to make improvements to the social
structure.

"We hope that the authority will not only include them in a
list of missing people for the sake of statistical notes like the
victims of traffic accidents but they should go further and
investigate the disappearance." (ind)