Response to TGPF report vital to recover confidence

JAKARTA (JP): Human rights activists and the international community are warning that the government's response to a joint fact-finding team's report on the May riots will make or break its quest to restore confidence.

Known as TGPF, the team released on Tuesday its report, which included a finding implicating members and elements of the Armed Forces in the riots.

Ita F. Nadia of the Volunteers for Humanity appreciated the team's efforts and judged the results the best that could be expected given its limitations. "The important thing is how the government responds to the recommendations."

One of eight recommendations on further investigation into who was behind the violence "(will stand) as the government's accountability to the public, given its failure to guarantee public safety".

She believed it was the only way to restore both domestic and international public confidence. "Failure to do so would end in more widespread distrust toward the government," she told The Jakarta Post.

Ita added that victims' families were counting on enforcement of the recommendation for protection of witnesses and victims who still felt unsafe.

Volunteers for Humanity, which provides outreach and counseling to riot victims, was the first organization to reveal that gang rapes occurred during the riots. Volunteers put the number of rapes at 168 as of July, while the report listed 66 during the May riots. Ita said Volunteers attributed the discrepancy also to the difference in verifying the assaults.

Munir, coordinator of the independent Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said the report would supplement reports of other fact-finding teams, but doubted there would be additional efforts from the authorities to solve the rape cases. The government, he added, "doesn't seem to be responding seriously to the report".

He believed those responsible should be tried, and advocated that the government establish therapy programs for riot victims and the political activists who were abducted earlier this year but subsequently freed.

Response

On Thursday, the United States and the People's Republic of China responded to the report by urging the Indonesian government to carry through with its recommendations.

Both were among the countries in which protests were staged following the riots. The Indonesian government was accused of inaction against racial violence.

AFP quoted U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin as praising TGPF for its "credible, balanced report under the difficult circumstances" which included "anonymous death threats" against members.

In a statement, Rubin said it was "crucial in order to restore credibility and confidence that the ... government implement the team's recommendations, including further investigation of military leaders and others alleged to be involved in fomenting or participating in the violence".

The Indonesian government was "strongly urged" to "take steps to prevent intimidation and threats of violence against investigators, witnesses and their families".

Rubin said the U.S. government found the "85 acts of violence (documented in the report) targeted against women, including rapes, torture, sexual assaults and sexual harassment, reprehensible and unacceptable".

He added: "Those responsible for all these acts should be held accountable."

"We are of the view that the Indonesian government has the responsibility to thoroughly investigate and handle the relevant issues and prevent similar accidents from happening again," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzhao was quoted as saying by the wire service at a biweekly news conference in Beijing.

Zhu said China as a friendly neighbor hoped Indonesia "can maintain social stability and that Indonesian people of all ethnic groups including Chinese can enjoy equal rights and live in harmony".

The team's recommendations also included the need to further probe the details of a meeting on May 14 at the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) headquarters, as well as the possible role of then Kostrad chief Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto in the riots.

Prabowo's younger brother, businessman Hashim Djojohadikusumo, characterized the early evening Kostrad gathering of 25 people as a "very normal meeting". He said on Wednesday it was held at the initiative of human rights advocate and lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution. Prabowo was discharged from the military in August for involvement in the abductions of activists.

A source told the Post recently that earlier in the afternoon of May 14, Prabowo failed to meet with Achmad Tirtosudiro, leader of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), at ICMI's Central Jakarta office, who he thought might be able to issue a pacifying statement to the people.

The reports said the then Jakarta Military commander, Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, should also be held responsible for the lax security in the capital during the riots which killed more than 1,000 people. (anr/01/byg)