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)