Six years after, May 1998 tragedy still unresolved

Six years after, May 1998 tragedy still unresolved

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta

After six years, three governments and two independent
investigations, the May 1998 riots remain unfinished business for
the citizens of this nation.

The National Commission on Human Rights has found indications
of systematic gross human rights violations in the tragedy, which
took place between May 13 and May 15 of that year and recommended
an ad hoc human rights trial, but families of the victims have
been kept waiting for the perpetrators of the crimes to be
brought to justice.

The House of Representatives during the current Megawati
Soekarnoputri administration declared the riots just "ordinary
crimes".

But, I Ketut Murwati, the director of human rights violations
cases at the Attorney General's Office, said his office was
waiting for new evidence from the rights body's team tasked with
investigating military and police officers for their alleged role
in the tragedy.

The 16-member independent team set up by the rights body in
March 2003 was not able to get the suspects to respond to
multiple summonses, in order to formally recommend that the
government set up an ad hoc human rights tribunal in line with
Law No. 26/2000 on human rights.

According to the law, all suspects can be summoned by the team
if the House proposes the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal
which must be endorsed by the government.

Jakarta turned into a giant battle field when riots paralyzed
the capital city and many other cities such as Medan, Palembang,
Surakarta and Surabaya. Thousands of people vandalized mostly
Chinese-Indonesian-owned buildings and looted shopping malls.

More than 1,000 people were killed and more than 60 women and
girls, mostly Chinese-Indonesians, were victims of gang rapes and
other sexual violence during those three days of bloodshed, arson
and turmoil.

The riots were precipitated by the shooting of four Trisakti
University students on the afternoon of May 12.

A joint fact-finding team set up by the government alleged
that the riots were part of a scenario engineered by former
president Soeharto's son-in-law Prabowo Subianto, then the Army's
Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) chief and most recently a
Golkar Party presidential candidate before he lost the
nomination, in his attempt to have martial law declared, which
would allow him to take power amidst the national leadership
crisis that ended with Soeharto's resignation on May 21.

To this day, no legal action has been taken against Prabowo
over his alleged roles in the tragedy, including orders to abduct
and "disappear" many prodemocracy activists in 1997 and 1998, and
his secret meeting with civilian figures at the Kostrad
headquarters when the tension was at its peak on May 14.

Both the government's fact-finding team (TGPF) and the rights
body's team are of the same opinion that the riots involved
intelligence personnel and that someone had hired the rioters. At
the very least, they were grave crimes of omission as some
members of the security forces were ordered back to their
barracks and the security officials allowed the chaos to continue
unabated.

The rights body's investigation team said current Golkar
presidential candidate Gen. (ret) Wiranto, then the Indonesian
Military (TNI) chief, Prabowo and the Democrats' Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, then the TNI chief of territorial affairs, were three
of dozens of military and police officers who were responsible
for security at that time.

The team's many questions remain unanswered, particularly as
to why Wiranto, Prabowo and many other generals went to Malang,
East Java, to attend a Kostrad ceremony, while Susilo met with
Muslim intellectual Nurcholish Madjid when the riots were
escalating.

Wiranto has said that like the East Timor human rights case,
the investigations are merely aimed at discrediting him and
sabotaging his presidential bid.

In his book Wiranto's Notes: Witness to the Storm, Wiranto
shifts the blame elsewhere for the tragedy, saying he had asked
then chief of National Police Gen. Dibyo Widodo, former chief
Jakarta Military Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin and former City
Police chief Insp. Gen. Hamami Nata to take necessary measures to
restore security and order, but apparently they did not.

Wiranto has publicly declared that he must be innocent of any
wrongdoing in the May tragedy, otherwise Solahuddin Wahid who led
the investigation into the case would not have chosen to become
his running mate in the upcoming presidential election.

Prabowo, in a book entitled Politik Huru-Hara Mei 1998 (The
Politics Behind the May 1998 Riots) written by his close friend
Fadli Zon, shifted the responsibility to Wiranto, who he says
never answered phone calls on May 14.

Maswadi Rauf, a professor of political science at the
University of Indonesia said human rights abuses linked to the
military in the past would remain unresolved if either Wiranto or
Susilo were to win the presidential election.

Eye-box
.rm70

Probes into the May 1998 tragedy
==========================================================================
Institution Date Findings/Suggestions Govt Response
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. TGPF July-Oct, 1998 - serious crimes by none

omission

- sexual violence

- further investigation

needed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. House (DPR) Jan-July 2002 - ordinary crimes none

- violators must be tried

in court
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Komnas HAM March-Sept. 2003 - gross human rights none

violations

- establish

an ad hoc rights

tribunal
----------------------------------------------------------------------------