Outside investigators needed

Outside investigators needed

If women (rape victims of the May riots) did not report their
experiences to the security forces, that is hardly surprising.
The police and Army did nothing to protect the lives or property
of those under attack at that time, and rape victims do not
readily speak of their ordeal even to sympathetic authorities.

Most victims would certainly shrink from doing so to the
widely distrusted Indonesian security forces. Many attackers are
said to have warned their victims not to report the incidents, or
they would be back. Is it any wonder then that few women are
willing to speak out?

However, it is also undoubtedly true that at least some of the
lurid accounts of rape and appalling mutilation which have
appeared on the Internet are fake. Some photographs have been
shown to be counterfeit. It is equally possible that stories have
been exaggerated or invented to stir up international hostility
toward Indonesia.

Whatever the truth of the matter, an internal inquiry is no
solution. If Jakarta is seriously interested in establishing the
facts, the only way is to set up an independent team of outside
investigators. That would remove any doubts about bias, and
victims would be able to speak out with confidence.

There was vague talk from consular officials that
international investigators were being sought from Hong Kong, the
mainland, Taiwan and the United States, but there do not seem to
have been any firm moves in that direction. Such a team should be
established without delay, because the present finding -- that
not one shred of evidence is available to support the allegations
-- only serves to damage Indonesia's credibility even further.

-- The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong