Rights body to question generals over 1998 riots

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Commission on Human Rights announced on Wednesday that gross human rights violations took place during the May 1998 violence in Jakarta in which more than 1,200 people were reportedly killed.

The commission's two-month investigation into the May 13 and 14 upheaval concluded that the violence was "widespread and systematic". At least 46 eye witnesses were questioned during the probe.

It was a second attempt to uphold justice in the case since a government-sanctioned team's findings of violence during the riots were left unresolved by the law enforcers in 1999.

Reading out the team's findings on Wednesday, team member Eny Suprapto said that "the riots were planned, instead of spontaneous, as evidenced by similar patterns."

"There were groups of provocateurs who destroyed gates or doors of buildings to lead mobs in to loot shops and markets. These provocateurs did not get involved in the robberies, but instead, they left the area soon after the gates or doors were opened," Eny said.

Local residents did not know the provocateurs, who were sent to the areas by various vehicles, Eny added.

"But the most questionable part is that there were no security officers, military or police ... in the areas where the riots occurred," Eny said.

The two-day nightmare followed the shooting death of four Trisakti University students who were taking part in nationwide rallies to demand the resignation of then president Soeharto. The long-time ruler eventually stepped down on May 21.

The commission concluded that the upheaval had resulted in murders, torture, harassment, sexual abuse/mass rapes, racial attacks, illegal arrests and destruction of property.

"We obtained several reports (of mass rapes). But, we found nobody who would testify," said Solahuddin Wahid, a rights commission member who led the ad hoc team.

The commission hopes to question several security officials in charge of maintaining order during the riots, including former military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto, former Jakarta Military commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, former Army's Strategic Reserves Command chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto and former TNI Intelligence Agency chief Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim.

Solahuddin said that the commission would write a letter to the Indonesia Military Chief to order his subordinates to answer the summonses.

"We will also ask the district court chief to issue an order to summon the officials by force, if necessary, because we'd like to finish this case by July," he said.

Asked whether the team's results could land the perpetrators in a human rights tribunal, he replied by saying, "our duty is to complete this investigation so it can be passed on to the Attorney General's Office for prosecution."

Solahuddin said that the commission would also present their recommendations to the House of Representatives, which will decide if the cases should be prosecuted or not.

In 1999, the government of president B.J. Habibie established a joint team to investigate the May riots and, if possible, reveal the perpetrators and masterminds of the riots.

The 18-member team, comprising military officers, government officials, rights body members and non-governmental organization activists, presented its report to the justice ministry, the office of the state minister of women's affairs, the security and defense ministry, the foreign ministry and the Attorney General's Office.

The team confirmed that at least 66 women, mostly Chinese- Indonesians, were raped during the riots, but none of the perpetrators have been taken to court.