Riot witnesses reluctant to speak out: Volunteers

JAKARTA (JP): Volunteers investigating people who have reportedly been missing since the July 27 riots are having a difficult time getting witnesses to open up and tell them more about the incident and the missing people.

A group calling itself the "Team of Voluntary Helpers for Victims of the Jakarta, 27th of July Incident" said in a statement that people who are believed to have witnessed the incident are being "very closed" and choose to remain silent.

"Our efforts to collect data and confirm disappearances are facing a lot of problems. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack," said the statement, which was sent to The Jakarta Post by the Jakarta Social Institute (ISJ), a non-governmental organization dealing with urban issues.

The institute and two other agencies are currently conducting similar fact-finding attempts. The other two are the National Commission on Human Rights and the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH).

According to the statement, potential witnesses refuse to come out in the open because a "strong feeling of distress" still prevails in society.

"Potential witnesses... are obviously frightened and refuse to have anything to do with this case,".

Houses of victims, or the families of victims, are reportedly being "tightly guarded" by plainclothes officers and terrorized by phone calls from unknown parties. Investigating hospitals has also failed to provide useful information because the hospitals are reluctant to give out details, the statement said.

"It's difficult enough just to get the names and addresses of these families -- who may be potential witnesses -- let alone meet them... We are afraid that this fear may become a long- lasting trauma," the statement read.

As of Wednesday, the LBH listed 17 people still missing. Five people returned to their homes late last week.

LBH spokesperson Dewi Novirianti told the Post on Monday that fact-finding missions collect reports and data from people whose relatives or friends are suspected to have disappeared. The reports are mostly given through a hotline opened by LBH two days after the riots.

The riots started with the forceful takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party headquarters -- which was then controlled by supporters of ousted chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri -- by loyalists of Megawati's opponent, Soerjadi.

Dewi said the LBH has also been giving direct assistance, such as checking on the people detained at the city police headquarters and seeing if their names are on the list of missing persons.

"We have also tried to check with hospitals, although this has proven to be a tedious job," Dewi said.

She explained that although some hospitals quite readily provide information, such as Cipto Mangunkusumo and Cikini hospitals, others are proving more difficult to investigate.

M. Ridwan Rais hospital, she said, refuses to give out any information, while Gatot Subroto hospital, from being open at first, is now more secretive. But St. Carolus hospital is now more open than it was in the beginning, she added.

Checks on the hospitals are done mainly to make sure the reportedly missing people are still alive.

"What we are after is a confirmation of the number of deaths. This is a difficult job because witnesses refuse to speak out and people are scared," she said.

LBH, she said, also makes regular checks on the homes or contact persons who have filed reports on missing relatives or friends.

The military said earlier this month that 170 people have been detained for questioning in connection with the riots that left four people dead, dozens injured and 22 buildings burnt out and damaged.

Dewi said, however, LBH has unconfirmed reports of four other deaths, one of which is thought to have occurred during detention at police headquarters.

"Witnesses at the PDI headquarters are also reluctant to speak. We have to be very patient with them because they are only willing to talk to people they really trust," Dewi said.

She explained that although LBH is currently working together with ISJ and the National Commission on Human Rights on this case, she said the commission "seems to be working on its own".

Late last week, commission member Clementino dos Reis Amaral said the rights body would delay the announcement of its findings on the riots because it still expects new information. (pwn)