Right body reaffirms findings on July 27 riot

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)