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)