Missing activists' kin visit Amien, Megawati

Missing activists' kin visit Amien, Megawati

JAKARTA (JP): Relatives of missing activists met with leading
opposition figures Amien Rais and Megawati Soekarnoputri on
Thursday to seek moral support.

Accompanied by the independent Commission for Missing Persons
and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the relatives vowed to push
the Armed Forces (ABRI) to locate the missing people.

"We consider the visit as a mandate to seek justice," Amien,
who is also leader of the newly established National Mandate
Party, said at the party's secretariat in South Jakarta.

Amien promised he would soon write to President B.J. Habibie
and Minister of Defense and Security/ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto
urging them to give serious attention to finding those still
missing. "We must help Munir (Kontras' coordinator) politically
because it seems that these missing persons, including activists,
have been forgotten.

"I hope that they are still alive, but if they are already
gone, it is (the government's) responsibility to notify the
relatives about how they died and where they have been buried."

Munir said it was impossible for Kontras to work alone, and
that it was imperative to work with "leading civil forces to
fight the use of violence in the country," he said.

Earlier the relatives met with Megawati, the ousted leader of
the Indonesian Democratic Party, at the latter's new office in
Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta.

"I can really feel your sadness and discontent because I was
also a victim of political violence.

"Maybe I just can say that you should have unlimited patience
and never give up hope of finding those activists," Megawati, who
was ousted from the party leadership through a government-backed
congress in Medan two years ago, said.

Kontras reported that at least 24 people have gone missing
since April last year. Nine resurfaced after several months and
disclosed abductions and torture during detention.

Relatives have said that of those still missing not all are
activists. Amid mounting public pressure to find them, ABRI
announced the alleged involvement of the Army's Special Forces
(Kopassus) members in the abductions in July.

Wiranto then discharged former Kopassus chief Lt. Gen. (ret)
Prabowo Subianto and removed two senior Kopassus officers from
active duty last month for their involvement in the abductions.

The investigation team is completing the dossiers for the 11
other suspects. Team leader Maj. Gen. Syamsu Djalal, has yet to
mention any deadline for submitting the dossiers to the court.

"Insya Allah (God willing), the dossiers will be submitted to
the court-martial immediately upon their completion," he told
reporters on Thursday after meeting with former abducted activist
Pius Lustrilanang, who gave the general details of his ordeal.

Enough

Pius said after the meeting that the investigation team
already had enough evidence to bring Prabowo and the 11 Kopassus
troops to trial.

He cited his sketches of the map and of the features of the
cells, where all of the people kidnapped had been kept, including
himself, as evidence of Kopassus members' involvement.

Pius, who went missing on Feb. 4, was the first activist who
revealed details of his abduction to the public following his
release on April 3.

Pius also reiterated his confidence that there were more
parties involved in the abductions. "Kopassus could not have done
the kidnapping alone, without support from other related
territorial military officers," he said. He did not elaborate but
had said previously that he would only reveal the other parties
he suspected to Syamsu's team.

The investigation team has confirmed that the Jakarta Military
Command and local military districts were also involved in the
abductions of some of the missing people.

Asked about his plan to file a lawsuit in a civilian court
against Prabowo, Pius said he was still consulting his lawyers on
the urgency of the measure. (imn/byg)