Rights body delays announcing riot probe findings

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights postponed the announcement of its findings on the July 27 riot because it still expects more new information.

The commission has focused its investigation on people reported missing, injured and detained in the aftermath of the bloody takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters.

"We want the result of our enquiry to be as close to the truth as possible, so we are not rushing to announce it," Commission member Clementino dos Reis Amaral told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

According to Amaral, the results of the finding would be credible if it could satisfactorily explain how many people went missing and why.

The government has said that three people died in the rioting and scores of others were injured when supporters of government- backed PDI rebel leader Soerjadi raided the party headquarters controlled by ousted party chief Megawati Soekarnoputri.

PDI activists loyal to Megawati, and human rights activists, however, say that dozens of people went missing after the invasion of the headquarters.

Three agencies -- the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, the Jakarta Social Institute and the National Commission on Human Rights -- have formed their own fact-finding teams to investigate the violence.

"We are receiving more and more input from the public, which takes time to check for accuracy. We have not set a deadline for the report's completion," Amaral said.

Last week, several commission members made a field trip to the disputed PDI headquarters now under police control and examined the buildings damaged or destroyed during the July 27 rioting which erupted after the takeover.

Amaral said the results might be announced later than Aug. 17, as originally expected, due to the complexity of the matter. Moreover, he said, the world is watching what the committee will come up with.

"There is no investigation which pleases everyone, but the truth needs to be revealed," Amaral said.

Meanwhile, police in Bogor, 60 kilometers south of the capital, said over the weekend they were holding the mother of Garda Sembiring -- an activist of Student Solidarity for Democracy (SMID) who the military has charged with inciting the July 27 riot.

Bogor police detective chief Capt. Pambudi P., said that Veronica Sembiring had been taken away on Aug. 1, but declined to say on what charges and how long she will be held.

"She is actually a detainee of the Jakarta City Police Headquarters, and will be detained until her detention is over," Pambudi said.

Pambudi refused to comment on Veronica's detention because it is "a political, sensitive matter."

Noted lawyer Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that APIK, the Association of Indonesian Women for Justice, which she chairs, is ready to defend Veronica.

"We already have someone checking the case," she said.

There is no legal basis for her detention, she stated.

"What crime could she possibly have committed? Giving birth to a son who is an ardent critic of the government?" she said. (imn/anr/21/14)