Slaying of journalist in East Timor condemned

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) and the Independent Journalists Association (AJI) called on Wednesday for a thorough investigation into the killing of Agus Mulyawan, an Indonesian journalist who was shot dead along with eight church workers in Baucau, East Timor, over the weekend.

While condemning the second murder of a journalist in East Timor within a week, the two associations demanded that the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the International Force for East Timor (Interfet) be held accountable for the incident.

"Both TNI and Interfet must be held responsible for the killing, because the murder took place before the transfer of control of the territory," PWI said in a statement signed by chairman Tarman Azzam, secretary-general Bambang Sadono and the head of its journalist advocacy unit, Ilham Bintang.

In a statement signed by its chairman Lukas Luwarso, AJI demanded that TNI capture the suspected killers and called on all journalists remaining in East Timor to fight all forms of terror for the sake of their profession.

The death of Agus, who worked for Japanese radio station Asia Press International, followed the murder of Financial Times correspondent Sander Thoenes last Tuesday.

An armed group attacked Agus, who had been in East Timor documenting armed independence group Falintil since Aug. 29, as he was traveling to Los Palos from Baucau, northeast of Dili, on Saturday with two nuns, two deacons, a student priest, two teenage girls and a driver. The group was traveling to Los Palos to distribute food and medicine to refugees.

Their bodies were reportedly dumped in a river near Baucau.

The death of Agus shocked his parents and sisters, who expressed their disbelief at the news.

"Is it true? I can't believe he has died," Agus' mother Lina Sri Rejeki said. "A week ago, his father called and asked him to come home, but he said he could not because there were no more flights from or to East Timor."

She said a woman who identified herself as Yeni phoned from Jakarta to inform her of the death of her 26-year-old son. The woman told Lina she was a friend of Agus.

Lina, 53, said she wanted her son to be buried in his hometown of Denpasar, Bali.

She said her mother repeatedly asked whether Agus would come home soon after having a bad dream a few days before his death. (50/amd)