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