Priok victims make peace with the military

JAKARTA (JP): Several relatives of the late Amir Biki, the Muslim cleric killed in the 1984 bloody shooting at Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, signed on Friday an islah (traditional Islamic peace agreement) with military officers responsible for the incident.

Arief Biki, the victim's younger brother, said the accord was signed last Tuesday with former Jakarta Military commander Try Sutrisno, who was in charge of security in the capital at the time of the incident.

This accord should be considered the end of the case, Arief said, adding that no other parties should bring up the subject regarding the death of his brother again.

"We've waited 17 years for the settlement of this case. But the death of our brother has been used as a political football for the interest of others," said Arief, adding that the signing of the accord was in line with the relatives' intention to settle the case no later than this year.

"And if the state still fails to apologize to the victims, then we will," he said, in reference to his determination.

Arief, who is also a member of the People's Consultative Assembly, told a news conference at the official residence of former vice president Try in Kuningan, South Jakarta, that signing a peace accord was decided during a meeting among the relatives.

He claimed that some of them did not agree with the move and insisted that the government should bring the perpetrators to justice. But the islah, he said, would not hamper legal proceedings over the case which is now in the hands of the Attorney General's Office.

"It's up to Attorney General M.A. Rachman, who is also the head of the team investigating this case. But we have made our stance in the case clear to the Attorney General's Office and the Indonesian Military (TNI) and that is we want to have peaceful lives and no more politics.

"We urge the attorney general not to name the suspects in the case and to stop investigating it," he added.

The peace accord is the continuation of an earlier effort made by 86 Tanjung Priok residents who claimed to be victims of the incident. They principally agreed to end the dispute by taking "compensation" in the form of the establishment of a foundation named Yayasan Penerus Bangsa. The foundation is in charge of supporting Tanjung Priok victims who were disabled or lost their jobs following the incident.

With Tuesday's peace accord, the Biki family and military officers on duty at the time have agreed to settle with a mutual apology. They also urged the government to give both moral and material support to the families with either an Islamic development project, an Islamic center in Tanjung Priok or the renovation of a mosque built by the late Amir.

Try said that the former military officers responsible for the incident had not promised to pay compensation, but attempted to persuade the government to rehabilitate the victims' names and to offer financial support.

"Even though Biki's family refused to join the Penerus Bangsa foundation, we have a similar wish for a peaceful solution to the case. We have buried the case because we know that there will be no solution if we continue to blame each other," Try said.

The shooting, which erupted after a mass demonstration demanded the release of four residents arrested at Tanjung Priok Military Command, killed 33 people, but eyewitnesses said they saw a truckload of charred bodies. The government formed an ad hoc human rights trial for the case.

Earlier on Friday, relatives of Amir went to the TNI Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, for a closed-door meeting with TNI chief Adm. Widodo A.S, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and TNI spokesman Rear Air Marshall Graito Usodo.

Also present at the 15-minute meeting were Brig. Gen. Rally Butar-Butar, the East Jakarta Military District commander at the time of the incident.

The meeting was aimed at reporting to the TNI chiefs that both parties had reached an agreement to peacefully settle the dispute.

"The two parties also agreed to stop politicizing over the case," Graito said from his office after the meeting.

Graito further said that TNI did not facilitate the meeting. "They came here (to Cilangkap) more because the incident involved this institution in the past. Nothing else," he said. (bby/tso)