Rights body sets up probe team on Semanggi tragedy

Rights body sets up probe team on Semanggi tragedy

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights has
established its own team to investigate the Nov. 13 clash between
students and security personnel at the Semanggi Cloverleaf
junction.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, the commission pointed out
that the government's explanation of the incident which claimed
10 lives left much to be desired.

The team will "complement" the government's explanation of the
violence, the commission said, pointing out that more information
is required to establish who was responsible for the incident
which has come to be known as the Black Friday tragedy.

"There are a number of things which have not been fully
explained that we feel are important," Marzuki Darusman, the
commission's deputy chairman, said without elaborating.

Commission member Bambang W. Soeharto was appointed leader of
the team.

Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander
Gen. Wiranto said on Sunday that "a certain radical group with a
huge obsession for power" within society was behind the Semanggi
incident. He did not name the group.

The government has also accused a number of opposition
figures, including former army general Kemal Idris and former
Jakarta Governor Ali Sadikin, of seeking to overthrow the
administration. Police have questioned the group who issued a
communique calling for the establishment of a transitional
government, and plan to put them on trial for treason.

In a two-page statement, the rights body said the government
should exercise caution to avoid giving the impression that
political motives lie behind the accusations.

"If the matter is going to be settled in court, there should
be a fair and impartial trial," the rights body's secretary
general Baharuddin Lopa said reading the statement.

Serious clashes took place between antigovernment protesters
and security personnel on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13. A total of 16
people were killed and more than 400 injured in the violence
sparked by student protests against the Special Session of the
People's Consultative Assembly.

The military said four members of the Army would be court-
martialled and 144 others from various military units would be
prosecuted for using unnecessary force when dealing with student
protests in the run-up to and during the session.

Separately, the school where a student informer claimed to
have studied denied that he was registered there but acknowledged
that he had studied there for one semester.

Aswanti Setiawati, a public relations officer for Trisakti
University's Transportation Management School, said the self-
proclaimed informer, Wiwid Pratiwo, only registered for the first
semester of the 1996-1997 academic year.

"Thereafter, we heard nothing from him and his tuition was
discontinued," she told The Jakarta Post.

Wiwid claimed that he was still registered with the school but
was on academic leave, however Aswanti contradicted this.

She also said that it would not have been possible for Wiwid
to have been on a scholarship because scholarships are only given
out after the first semester. The university charged tuition fees
of Rp 3 million per semester in 1996.

Wiwid said his father works as a construction firm driver.

He told the rights body on Saturday that the military police
had recruited him to inform on the student movement and had
warned him in advance that troops would open fire near Atma Jaya
University on the afternoon of Nov. 13. (byg/anr)