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)