Rights body to investigate Ambon attack

Rights body to investigate Ambon attack

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
HAM) established on Monday a fact-finding team to investigate the
deadly attack by joint-security troops in Ambon, Maluku, against
a clinic belonging to Laskar Jihad (Jihad Force).

According to Samsudin, a member of the Komnas HAM, the
decision was taken following a closed-door meeting between
members of the rights body and representatives of Muslim
organizations led by the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI).

The fact-finding team, headed by B.N. Marbun, will hear the
victims' testimonies and, if necessary, dispatch members to
Maluku in the next two or three days to complete their
investigations.

"If the team finds out that the troops have carried out gross
human rights violations, we will forward the case to the Attorney
General's Office and demand for a human rights tribunal,"
Samsudin told The Jakarta Post.

The establishment of such a rights tribunal is governed by Law
No. 26/2001.

Samsudin said that preliminary testimonies from members of
Laskar Jihad, who took their case to the rights body earlier on
Monday, showed that the joint-security troops had violated human
rights by attacking the clinic.

"Hospitals or clinics are among many places that should be
exempted from any attack," Samsudin said.

The commander of Laskar Jihad, Ja'far Umar Thalib, who led his
men to protest at Komnas HAM, said that joint-security troops
opened fire randomly at people in the clinic.

"The troops attacked paramedics and patients being treated
there," Ja'far said.

A three-day-long incident between June 12 and June 14 in
Galunggung and Kebon Cengkih in Ambon claimed at least 20 lives,
including one soldier and wounded 30 others.

Following the incident, some 15 armed civilians, all members
of Laskar Jihad, were arrested.

Separately, Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and
Security Affairs Agum Gumelar urged all parties to stop making
comments about the incident in Maluku.

"I expect all parties to stop making hasty comments and
conclusions on what happened on June 14. Just wait for the
results from the Indonesian Military (TNI) fact-finding team,"
Agum said, after attending a meeting with Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.

"The TNI fact-finding team will be objective in revealing the
case," the retired four-star general added.

Meanwhile, TNI Legal Department chief Maj. Gen. Timor Manurung
said that joint-security troops, comprising elite troops from the
Army, Navy and the Air Force, would not be disbanded because of
the incident.

Timor said the joint-security troops were established by the
TNI headquarters to avoid intervention by the UN peacekeeping
force in the prolonged sectarian conflict in Maluku.

"The UN had warned us that if we failed to settle the
conflict, they would send their peacekeeping forces. We answered
it by forming these professional troops," Timor told the Post
after attending a hearing with the House of Representatives'
special committee on the defense bill.

Back in Ambon, the consul general of the United States
Embassy, Robert A. Pollard, said that the U.S. government was
always ready to assist any initiative for reconciliation between
the warring groups, the Christians and Muslims.

"We are ready to facilitate, by providing computers, hotels
and other accommodation if the warring groups want to meet and
talk, either in Ambon or outside Ambon," Pollard said, after
meeting with the deputy governor of Maluku, Paula Renyaan.

Responding to mounting calls by locals for an international
peacekeeping force in Maluku, Pollard said that his government
rejected any initiative to bring foreign troops to Maluku.

"Foreign intervention will not be able to help solve problems
faced by people here," Pollard said. (02/49/emf/dja)