The gallery of thirteen activists who are still missing

The gallery of thirteen activists who are still missing

JAKARTA (JP): At least 13 families are still uncertain whether
missing sons, daughters, husbands, brothers, sisters or fathers
are still alive.

Former missing activist Pius Lustrilanang has claimed he saw
Sonny and Yani Afri released last March 12 from the detention
center they shared, but the men have not returned to their
families.

They are among the longest missing since the last positive
sighting of them was April 26 last year.

The following is a list of missing people documented and
handled by Kontras, the Commission for Missing Persons and
Victims of Violence, and the Legal Aid office in Yogyakarta,
which is working with Kontras:

1. Deddy Hamdun, 43, last seen on May 29, 1997, during the
general election, with Noval Alkatiri and his driver Ismail. Some
suspect he was kidnapped because of his involvement in campaign
rallies supporting the United Development Party (PPP). Others
believe the kidnapping of the father of three was linked to his
land selling activities.

2. Noval Alkatiri, 31, last seen May 29, 1997, is a
businessman who set up his own travel agency, PT Sangkuriang Tour
and Travel, and also has a labor supply company. Born May 25,
1967, he has a daughter, Nafilah, 8, from his former wife Vivi.
His family insists he was not an activist; they say he left to
meet Deddy after the latter called him.

3. Ismail, 31, Noval's driver who was with his employer on May
29 1997. Kontras staff do not have a photograph of him. His
family in Ambon relies on Noval's family for information on him.

4. Herman Hendrawan, 28, last seen March 12, 1998. On Friday,
news broke that Hendrawan was in the Philippines. As this report
went to print, there has been no confirmation whether the man is
Hendrawan.

He chairs the National Committee for Democratic Struggle
(KNPD) and the East Java branch of Perjuangan Buruh Indonesia
(Indonesian Labor Struggle, PBI, under the banned Democratic
People's Party, PRD).

The student of social and political sciences at Airlangga
University in Surabaya is believed to have been kidnapped shortly
after holding a committee media conference at the Jakarta Legal
Aid Institute on Jl. Diponegoro 74, Central Jakarta. Pius has
also claimed to have communicated with Herman in detention.

5. Suyat, 23, a student of Slamet Riyadi University,
Surakarta, Central Java. The activist of the KNPD was last seen
early February this year. He was abducted from his parents' home
in Surakarta by men claiming to be security officials.

6. Petrus Bima Anugerah, 25, last seen March 31, 1998, and
believed to be kidnapped in South Jakarta. Born Sept. 24, 1973,
he is a member of SMID and a student at the Driyarkara Theology
Institute. He is the second of four children. His mother is a
recently pensioned school teacher and his father is a hospital
paramedic in Malang, East Java.

7. Yani Afri, better known as Rian, 27, a public
transportation driver last seen April 26, 1997. His family denies
reports of his political activities. It has been reported that he
is a supporter of the Indonesian Democratic Party and its North
Jakarta branch in Tanjung Priok.

He and his friend Sonny were arrested by North Jakarta
Military District soldiers. They were interrogated regarding
accusations of involvement in a bomb plot targeting the Kelapa
Gading Mall in North Jakarta during the election campaign period
in May last year. Released after one night, the two were picked
up by four unknown men outside the military facility. They have
not been seen since.

8. Sonny, 28, a part-time public transportation driver, last
seen April 26, 1997. Like Yani, he rented an apartment in Tanah
Abang, Central Jakarta.

9. Ucok Munandar Siahaan, last seen May 14, 1998, a student at
the Perbanas banking academy. He lives in Depok.

10. Hendra Hambali, 19, a student last seen May 14 during the
riots at Glodok Plaza, Central Jakarta.

11. M. Yusuf, last seen May 7, 1997, is a schoolteacher.
According to reports he was taken from his home on Jl. Raden
Saleh, Central Jakarta, by unknown men. His family says he was
not engaged in any political activity.

12. Y. Muhidin, 22, last seen around Sunter, North Jakarta
near his residence on May 14, 1998. Tanjung Priok police have
said they detained him for two days until May 16, after which his
whereabouts are unknown.

13. Triyono, 23. His mother in Yogyakarta received an
unsigned telegram saying Triyono was kidnapped on May 13 in
Jakarta.

"We are suspicious of the telegram claiming it was sent by the
Gadjah Mada University senate," Budi Hartono, a lawyer at the
Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) said Friday.

The senate said it sent no such telegram and Triyono was not
registered as a student. Earlier this week, his mother Sunartin,
a resident of Ponorogo, Central Java, brought a photograph to LBH
picturing Triyono addressing a seminar at a hotel. Budi said the
hotel has refused to give any information on the seminar and who
its organizers were. "We can't say whether he's an activist or
not," he added.

One of the missing people has been found dead; Leonardus
"Gilang" Nugroho Iskandar, a street musician in Surakarta, was
found dead from a gun shot wound in a forest near Magetan on May
23 after being missing for two days.

The list does not include other missing people whose families
have not reported their relatives to the above bodies, such as
Wiji Thukul, 35, a poet and member of PRD.

Last seen at the end of August 1996, reports say he told his
family he was going to have his eye checked after sustaining
injuries during a labor demonstration in Surakarta. His family
lives in Yogyakarta. An anonymous source said he was in hiding
and would not reveal his whereabouts even to his family.

Of the initial list of missing students of the University of
Lampung, the Legal Aid Office (LBH) in Bandarlampung says at
least two are still missing, but it could not yet reveal their
identities, including whether they were men or women.

They went missing after students clashed with security
officers in a demonstration on March 19 at the university. About
10 of the initially reported missing students have turned up on
campus, said Edwin Hanibal, head of the social and political
division of LBH Bandarlampung. (anr/46)