Rape issue

Rape issue

I was very surprised to watch an interview between Col. Gories
Mere and a TV reporter on the night of Aug. 11, when he said that
there was no evidence so far concerning anyone who had been raped
during the May 14 and May 15 riots, although he had contacted
certain parties, such as NGOs/volunteer teams and hospitals. I
was also surprised when I read Mr. Iskan's article in the Merdeka
daily, in which he said that it was very difficult to prove the
gang rapes of Chinese-Indonesian women since there are some
obstacles, which he mentioned.

Therefore, based on those two statements, I wonder whether the
issue of gang rapes is true, or is there a political purpose to
it. Disregarding whether it is true or not, we must take the
result of this issue into account as to what impact it has on the
interest of Indonesia and the people as a whole.

We can see that due to the exaggeration of this issue, all
Chinese ethnic societies in Asian countries and in other parts of
the world have condemned Indonesia. Some have even accused us of
being barbarians, which is really deplorable and unacceptable.
Apart from this, the People's Republic of China and Taiwan have
repeatedly warned Indonesia to take the necessary steps to solve
the problems, whereas the Indonesian government has been trying
hard to solve this problem, such as with the formation of a fact-
finding team which involves many parties.

In my opinion, all the accusations and condemnations which
have been made are the result of exaggeration of ill-informed
news, either from newspapers or the Internet; "rubbish news"
quoting information from some local NGO/volunteer team who often
forget the presumption of innocence principle. Of course, we do
appreciate them as heroes of human rights in this reform era but
they should know that if this report fabrication continues
unabated, Indonesia's image internationally will increasingly
deteriorate.

MASLUH KARTAMIHARDJA

Jakarta