Reopening of Lampung case opposed

Reopening of Lampung case opposed

JAKARTA: A small group of people claiming to be victims and
their relatives of a bloody 1989 clash in the village of
Talangsari went to the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) on Wednesday to reject a plan to reopen the case.

Calling themselves the National Reconciliation Movement (GIN),
the group said victims of the clash had come to terms with the
past and absolved the military personnel involved in the incident
through an Islamic reconciliatory settlement, known as islah.

"We are against all efforts to reopen the case, as we know it
would end up pitting the families of the victims against the
Indonesian Military (TNI)," the group leader Nur Hidayat said
during a meeting with the head of the commission's team of
inquiry into possible rights violation in Talangsari, Hasballah
M. Sa'ad.

Hidayat said an investigation into the incident would just
benefit non-governmental organizations like the Commision for
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), which has long
sought real justice in the case.

A banner unfurled by the group in front of the Komnas HAM
office read "Dissolve Kontras at once" and "We don't want anyone
to take advantage of our plight."

Kontras has linked the alleged rights abuse to A.M.
Hendropriyono, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief who was
the military commander in Lampung in 1989.

Hasballah maintained that the commission had decided to launch
a full investigation into the clash following a thorough study of
the case. -- JP