'Third party' masterminded riot, rights body says

'Third party' masterminded riot, rights body says

JAKARTA (JP): The recent riots in Tasikmalaya, West Java, and
Sanggau Ledo, West Kalimantan, were masterminded by a "third
party", the National Commission on Human Rights has found.

Announcing the results of their investigation into the
incidents late Tuesday night, commission officials declined to
name the alleged masterminds but urged the authorities to capture
them soon.

Commission secretary-general Baharuddin Lopa said the culprits
had managed to mobilize the crowds and escalate individual
conflicts into mob violence.

The Dec. 26 Tasikmalaya riot was sparked by the beating up of
three Islamic boarding school teachers by police officers.
The teachers had been summoned by police to explain a claim they
had punished a policeman's son at the school for stealing his
classmates' money.

Angry mobs went on the rampage, attacking shops, churches,
factories and police posts. The riot, which developed into an
anti-Chinese attack, left four people dead.

Lopa said the rights violated in the incident included the
right to religious freedom and the right to work.

He said the unrest stemmed from economic disparity. His team
of investigators saw leaflets calling people to take to the
streets.

He praised the way people were maintaining the peace and said
Moslems and Christians had co-existed peacefully, a situation
they would like to bring back to Tasikmalaya.

Lopa called for officials' to be sensitive to the matter and
for security forces to anticipate potential unrest and coordinate
accordingly.

He said the unrest in Sanggau Ledo, sparked over a personal
dispute over a woman between people of two ethnic groups, was a
social conflict whose root cause had not been entirely resolved.

The ensuing violence forced the evacuation of over 5,000
people to nearby Singkawang. Five people were killed and many
houses were burned.

"The use of violence to solve problems is regrettable, it is
essential to continually develop mutual understanding among the
ethnic groups," Lopa said.

He said there had been violations to the right to life,
freedom and the right to property in the incident.

"The system and process of resettlement has to be redefined
together with the local people to increase their living
standards," he said.

For both cases, he urged the government to take immediate
action to reduce economic disparities. He praised officials'
efforts in Singkawang to keep the situation under control.

Meanwhile, the court in Situbondo has charged two Moslems with
masterminding the Oct. 10 religious riot that saw shops, a
courthouse and 25 churches attacked in the small town.

The two were among the 54 people tried on charges of rioting.

In Jakarta, senior lawyer Frans Hendra Winarta said law
enforcement, an equitable social and economic environment and
real awareness from officials about the problems affecting
Indonesia were the keys to maintaining stability.

He told The Jakarta Post the cause of the recent unrests in
Situbondo, Tasikmalaya and Sanggau Ledo stemmed from economic
disparities and a legal and political system that did not truly
meet the people's aspirations.

In addition, the likelihood of outbreaks of violence became
greater when people's rights were reduced, denied and ignored, he
said. (01)