Right body reaffirms findings on July 27 riot

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights announced yesterday that one of the five fatalities in the July 27 riots resulted from a gunshot wound.

While reaffirming its previous findings that five people were killed, 149 injured and reducing the number of missing people from 74 to 23, the commission also implicated the government and the military in the riot.

"Doctors' autopsies and reports showed that the first two victims died of wounds from blunt instruments, the third received fatal burns, the fourth had a heart attack and the fifth was shot," Baharuddin Lopa, the secretary-general of the commission told reporters during a press conference.

This was the commission's final report after having made public its preliminary findings on Aug. 31. The report came only 11 days after Munawir Sjadzali, a respected Moslem scholar and former minister of religious affairs, was elected chairman of the commission.

When asked whether the victim was shot by the military, Lopa said: "We did not investigate the case that far. We only received the information (that one victim was shot dead) from Persahabatan Hospital."

The five casualties were identified as Asmayadi Soleh, 19, Slamet, 52, Suganda Siagian, 21, Uju bin Asep, 31, and Sariwan, 40.

Of the five victims, only the last two -- Uju, who was suspected of suffering from a heart attack and Sariwan, who was shot dead -- had not been autopsied.

The wife of Uju, however, said her husband had never had a heart problem during his life, the commission said.

"The commission had asked the police to make the autopsy report for Sariwan on September 13, but there has been no response from the police," Lopa said.

Concerning those 23 whose whereabouts are unknown, Lopa said "they could either have not returned home yet, cannot be reached or are possibly dead."

Most of the missing persons were supporters of Megawati, he said.

"The report culminates the commission's work. Now it rests on the government to continue searching for those who are still missing and determine whether they are alive or dead," Lopa said.

In its six-page report, the commission also linked the government and the military with the social disturbances prompted by the violent takeover of PDI's headquarters in Central Jakarta in an attempt to oust the incumbent PDI leader, Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"The government and the security apparatus have involved themselves excessively and had failed to be impartial in their function as overseers of political and security affairs," the commission said.

It concluded that the July riot broke out after a faction of the party stormed the party headquarters, which was guarded by supporters of ousted PDI leader Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno.

"If a settlement cannot be reached through deliberation, then it has to be settled through the court," it said.

In addition to slamming the government and the military for interfering in the party's leadership rift, the commission also blamed the two PDI fragmented factions for the riots.

The commission also recommended that 200 supporters of Soerjadi -- who dethroned Megawati -- who were responsible for raiding the headquarters "be investigated and charged according to the law," in the same way the government treated the others implicated in the riot.

When asked by reporters whether the commission had received the list featuring the names of the 200 supporters, Lopa said the commission had never received it.

"In a meeting with us last August, Buttu Hutapea told us that he had sent 200 people to take over the headquarters, but he has yet to give the name list of those people," Lopa said, referring to the party's secretary-general from the Soerjadi camp.

Lopa called the attack on the party headquarters on July 27 "a criminal act" and that "all perpetrators have to be investigated, including Soerjadi".

Megawati, who was elected PDI chairman in 1993 for a five-year term, has sued Soerjadi and his key supporters, as well as a number of top government officials, for holding a rival congress in Medan in June.

A Jakarta district court, however, rejected the lawsuit Thursday.

The commission also called on the government and other related bodies, such as insurance companies, to lend a hand to help those who had lost their properties and businesses during the July rioting.

The total loss caused by the rioting has been estimated at Rp 100 billion (US$45 million). (26)