Missing persons' relatives set up association

Missing persons' relatives set up association

JAKARTA (JP): The relatives of 14 missing persons, mostly
activists, set up an association on Friday to provide each other
with moral support and to campaign for the eradication of forced
disappearances.

"We will never give up hope of finding our family members,"
Utomo Rahardjo, chairman of the Association of Missing Persons'
Relatives, said in a statement made at the office of the
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute. Utomo is the father of Bimo
Petrus Anugrah, a student at Driyarkara School of Philosophy
until he vanished in Jakarta in March.

Utomo said that the association wanted the relatives of
missing persons throughout the country to join, including those
in Aceh, East Timor and Irian Jaya. Human rights groups claim
that hundreds of people were abducted in these three troubled
provinces during the 32 years Soeharto ruled Indonesia.

As of Friday, no progress was reported in the investigation of
11 soldiers from the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) who are
suspected of involvement in the abductions, or on the whereabouts
of the missing people. The Armed Forces (ABRI) has said the
soldiers will be court martialled.

Munir, who heads the independent Commission for Missing
Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), had said the
commission would eventually play a supporting role and let
families take the lead in the campaign for the return of the
missing activists.

Munir said representatives of Kontras, the kin of the missing
activists and one kidnap victim who has since been released will
fly to Geneva in Switzerland on Sept. 24 to report the cases
before a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Earlier on Friday, relatives of the missing activists visited
the National Military Police Headquarters in Central Jakarta.
They urged its chief, Maj. Gen. Syamsu Djalal, to allow them to
meet the 11 members of Kopassus who have been detained for their
alleged involvement in the abductions. Former missing activist
Andi Arief said that he wanted to question the suspects on the
whereabouts of those who remain missing.

Syamsu said he supported the wish to meet the suspects, but
said that he would first need to consult their lawyer.

The London-based Amnesty International human rights group
called on the Armed Forces on Monday to grant it access to
question the suspects to guarantee impartiality in the
investigation.

Kontras have recorded at least 24 disappearances since April
1997. Nine people, including Andi, have reappeared after going
missing for several months. One, a street singer called Leonardus
"Gilang" Nugroho Iskandar, was found dead with bullet wounds in a
forest near Magetan in East Java on May 23. The rest remain
unaccounted for.

Last month, Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces
Commander Gen. Wiranto discharged former Kopassus commander Lt.
Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto from the Army and removed two senior
Kopassus officers from active duties after they confessed to
having played a part in the kidnappings. (byg)