The agony of not knowing hurts families of missing persons
The agony of not knowing hurts families of missing persons
JAKARTA (JP): Their loved ones have been missing for months,
some for more than a year. The families of Indonesia's missing
persons rely on their vivid memories to help keep their hope
alive.
Some of these families live far from Jakarta, and not all have
the energy or the means to keep going back and forth to the
capital to inquire about their lost members.
The following are a few accounts from families of missing
persons:
D. Utomo Rahardjo, the father of Petrus Bima Anugerah, last
communicated with his son over the phone. During the short
conversation, shortly before the young man disappeared on March
31, his son only requested that the family pray for his safety,
Utomo told The Jakarta Post.
A relative requesting anonymity said Petrus had felt
threatened because his calls to an apartment of his fellow
student activists in Klender, East Jakarta, had gone unanswered.
Petrus, a former Airlangga University student, was asked by
his relatives to move to Jakarta after fellow activists --
including Dita Sari who is still being detained in Tangerang --
were arrested. He soon after continued his studies at the
Driyarkara Theology Institute in Central Jakarta.
A few days before Petrus was reported missing, fellow
activists had warned him to be extra careful.
His father said Petrus had always been active in his
community's youth activities as well as in church. Utomo works as
a paramedic in a mental hospital in Malang, while Petrus' mother,
Misiati, recently retired from a teaching career.
Utomo last came to Jakarta to meet National Military Police
Commander Maj. Gen. Syamsu Djalal, the head of the Armed Forces'
(ABRI) fact-finding team on the disappearances, and to the
Ministry of Defense and Security with families of other missing
persons on July 22.
They had hoped to meet Minister of Defense and Security/ABRI
Commander Gen. Wiranto. The meeting finally took place Thursday.
Utomo said Gen. Wiranto should be held responsible for the
disappearances: "I just want clarity and certainty" about Petrus'
condition. He walked out of the meeting with Syamsu because he
felt the answers to his questions were unsatisfactory.
Utomo, speaking by phone from his home in Malang, East Java,
said he was "democratic" and had never forbidden Petrus from
joining potentially dangerous activities.
In the first weeks after Petrus was reported missing, Utomo
said the family did not want neighbors to fuss.
"We still joined community activities and even had a
neighbors' gathering at home. Nobody knew." When their neighbors
found out, many came to support the family, both at Utomo's
hospital and at his wife's school.
Noval
Petrus' mother said of her recent retirement: "It seems that
God has arranged this" so she could have more time to go back and
forth to the offices of the Commission for Missing Persons and
Victims of Violence (Kontras) and government authorities in
Jakarta to inquire about their son.
In Jakarta, Taj-Biby, 49, spoke affectionately about her son,
Noval S. Alkatiri, whom she has not seen since May 29, 1997.
Noval, the second child of five, had been the family's
breadwinner.
"He is a really devoted son, and worked hard to support us and
was the main financial contributor to his father's diabetic
treatment," Taj-Biby told the Post.
She insisted that her son was not politically active. Noval
and a family friend, Deddy Hamdun, went missing with Noval's
driver Ismail on the same day. Deddy and the family had a remote
business relationship in the past, she said.
Noval and his daughter, Nafilah, lived with his parents
following his divorce. Nafilah is one of the last people to see
her father.
On the day Noval was reported missing, Nafilah accompanied her
father to his office upon her grandmother's request.
"It was election day, and I asked Noval to bring Nafilah to
his office so that she wouldn't be lonely at home. A couple of
hours later, my son dropped his daughter at home. Without getting
out of the car, he told her to change clothes. We were planning
to go out together after he came back from picking up Deddy,"
recalled Taj-Biby. Nafilah was ready at the time promised, but
her father never returned.
Pictures of missing people on television and newspapers have
brought reality closer to home. "Nafilah always points to the TV
(when Noval's picture is aired) and says, 'That's Abah (Father)!
He's going to take me around when he comes back'," Taj-Biby
added.
The family said that Taj-Biby's health had deteriorated and
that she had lost 10 kilograms since her son was reported
missing. Yet the family has not lost hope.
"We have been waiting patiently for a year. We are willing to
continue waiting for months as long as the military can assure
Noval's safety and whereabouts," said Erie Alkatiri, Noval's
sister.
Similar uncertainty and hope was voiced by the family of Yani
Afri, who live in a modest apartment in Tanah Abang. His mother
remembers the first days that began the family's long wait.
"That afternoon (April 26, 1997), Yani was sleeping after a
long working night. A man whom I have never seen before, who
introduced himself as Sonny, came and woke my son up, and that
was the last time I saw him," Tuti told the Post.
Three days later, upon hearing news that her son was being
detained by the military, Tuti went to the North Jakarta Military
District only to find that her son had been released but was
missing again.
Since then she has lived in uncertainty. The family has even
gone to see a soothsayer, but has found no solace except for some
news from Kontras that another missing person since released by
his captors reported that he had met Yani.
"I only want my son to come home safely. I don't care whether
there is a trial of those military personnel (alleged captors),"
Tuti said.
She joined with other families to meet Gen. Wiranto on
Thursday. "I was totally unsatisfied with his answers."
Tuti said her son, who loves to sing, was a model to his other
children. A young man with a strong will, she said Yani closely
resembled the character and physical features of his late father,
a decorated soldier of the Siliwangi Army division.
Yani and Yusuf, his younger brother, had worked together for
years as public transport drivers.
"He usually worked as the driver, while I was his assistant.
We were really close. People never guessed we were brothers,"
said Yusuf, 25.
Yusuf said that it was Yani who pulled him from a life on the
street after he graduated from high school. He said he would have
known if his brother was politically active. "I have always been
together with him."
On Friday, dramatic news broke out that one missing person on
the list was found: Hendra Hendrawan, but as this went to press,
the news was yet to be confirmed.
Hendrawan's close friend, Nurhikmah, had said he told her his
dream: "One day, when we succeed in achieving our aim
(democracy), I would like to bring all underprivileged children
of Jakarta to Ancol (beach resort), and let them have a taste of
freedom." Nurhikmah, also an activist, described Hendrawan as
coming from a disciplined Moslem family "with a fixed commitment
toward the democratic movement."
Found
Those who have been reunited with their families are Pius
Lustrilanang, 30, the secretary-general of Aldera (the People's
Democratic Alliance) and a student at Parahyangan University,
Bandung; Desmon J. Mahesa, the director of the Nusantara Legal
Aid Office in Jakarta; Rahardjo Waluyo Djati, 29, an activist of
the National Committee for Democracy (KNPD) and a student at
Gadjah Mada University (UGM) who disappeared with Faisol Riza,
25, KNPD activist and UGM student who has also returned, and
Hendrawan, who is still missing; Nezar Patria, 28, also a UGM
student and secretary-general of the Association of Indonesian
Students for Democracy (SMID); Mugianto, 25, SMID activist and
UGM student, captured together with Nezar and Aan Rusdianto at a
Klender apartment, East Jakarta, who has also returned; Andi
Arief, 28, the chairman of SMID; and Haryanto Taslam, an
executive in Megawati Soekarnoputri's wing of the Indonesian
Democratic Party. (46/anr)