Rights body will query activists
JAKARTA (JP): Rights campaigner Marzuki Darusman expressed his belief yesterday the military and police were linked to the highly publicized disappearances of student and political activists.
"It isn't too difficult to believe that military apparatus are linked to the activists' disappearance," the deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights said yesterday.
Student activist Andi Arief of the outlawed Democratic People's Party (PRD) was among missing activists who recently turned up in police custody. Marzuki said the commission planned to go to the National Police Headquarters to learn about the disappearance from Andi himself.
However, the commission would first let the organization which reported his disappearance, namely the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), to complete their own inquiries.
Marzuki also renewed his call for lawyer Desmond J. Mahesa, student Pius Lustrilanang, and Haryanto Taslam of the Indonesian Democratic Party, who recently reappeared, to give an account of their whereabouts during their absence.
Desmond and Pius turned up in their respective hometowns of Banjarmasin and Palembang after going missing for more than two months, but have so far kept silent on what happened to them during their ordeal.
"We thank God they've come back, but the problem won't go away just like that... the public has the right to know what happened," Marzuki said.
An account from the activists would not only explain their mysterious disappearance, but would also help in the search for those still missing.
The disappearances have raised public concern because all appeared to be related to the political beliefs of the missing people, Marzuki said.
Conflicting comments from Armed Forces leaders made matters worse because they created the impression that its units were "badly coordinated", he said.
Meanwhile, the foundation raised questions yesterday over the suddenness with which the National Police produced an arrest warrant for Andi.
YLBHI lawyer Munir said Andi's family received an arrest warrant dated March 29 on Thursday, April 23, which suggested that Andi was in police custody for the entire period of his absence. During the same period, police leaders had repeatedly claimed they had no knowledge of Andi's whereabouts.
Andi was abducted from his home in Bandarlampung on March 28 by a gang of unidentified men.
Andi told Munir during their meeting at the National Police Headquarters on Thursday that his abductors handed him over to police on April 17. It is still not clear who abducted him, interrogated him day and night, and kept him blindfolded for almost 3 weeks.
No warrant
Munir said that when Andi's family reported his disappearance to Lampung provincial police on April 5, officers said no warrant had been issued against Andi.
"Lampung police even placed him on a list of missing persons," Munir said, criticizing National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo, who said on Wednesday, April 22, that he had not received any report on missing persons.
"How could he have said that when Andi has been in a police cell since April 17?" asked Munir, who is also head of Kontras, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence.
National Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar reiterated yesterday that Andi had been arrested on March 28, and officially detained on March 29. He refused to say who took Andi from his home and maintained that the activist was in perfect health.
Also yesterday, around 30 activists from the Team of Volunteers for Humanity, including woman astronomer Karlina Leksono Supeli and Catholic priest Ignatius Sandyawan Sumardi, met with the rights commission to share their findings on the cases of three activists -- Nezar Patria, Mugianto, and Aan Rusdianto -- currently under Jakarta Police detention.
The team said in a 10-page report submitted to the commission that the three activists had been abducted and abused by police officers. (edt/byg/aan)