Pontianak lawyers prepare to defend riot suspects

Pontianak lawyers prepare to defend riot suspects

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Bar Association lawyers in West
Kalimantan have set up a team to defend dozens of people facing
trial for their alleged involvement in recent riots.

The association's secretary-general, Akil Mochtar, said
yesterday the people -- from the Dayak and Madura ethnic groups
-- faced criminal charges ranging from vandalism to murder.

Akil, who will lead the defense team, said 10 Madurese and
four Dayaks had formally asked for legal assistance.

"The defense team will comprise ten lawyers. We have thus far
recruited only have seven of them, five Madurese and two Dayaks,"
he told The Jakarta Post.

Akil said the team was expecting requests from "scores of
other suspects". He did not say the exact number. Pontianak
Police Chief Col. Erwin Achmad was quoted by the Islamic tabloid
Aksi as saying the police had detained 70 suspects.

Akil said the trials would open in a week or two.

In Jakarta, the Indonesian Youth Forum (YKPI), which conducted
an investigation into the conflict last month, reported yesterday
that 1,135 Madurese were missing in the three worst-stricken
areas where it focused its research.

YKPI comprises eight student and youth organizations -- the
Indonesian Catholic Students Association, the Indonesian Islamic
Students Movements, the Indonesian Nationalist Students Movement,
the Indonesian Christian Youth Movement, the Indonesian Christian
Students Movement, Democratic Youth, and two Nahdlatul Ulama
youth wings.

The forum revealed in its 11-page-report that the Madurese
migrants who had gone missing had lived along the road connecting
the Anjungan, Menjalin and Ngabang districts during the violence
there between Feb. 1 and Feb. 7.

In the report made available to the Post yesterday, the forum
said the missing people had occupied the 487 houses burned down
in the area.

The report stated that the conflict in the province was
"purely ethnic" in nature.

"There were no burnings of other ethnic groups' property," it
said. The conflict was not caused by economic disparity between
Madurese and Dayaks as some have speculated, it concluded.

"The general economic status between the Dayaks and the
migrants is more or less equal," the report said. (aan)