TPGF confirms 66 rapes in riots

JAKARTA (JP): The government-appointed team assigned to investigate the mid-May riots in Jakarta and other cities confirmed on Tuesday that 66 women, mostly Chinese-Indonesians, were raped and that the unrest might well have involved Soeharto's son-in-law Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto and former Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.

In a long-awaited report whose preparation was reportedly marked by dissent and tension among members, the team also linked the riots to an alleged conspiracy of various parties including elements within the military seeking to create an emergency situation which would justify the invocation of "extra- constitutional powers."

The team, known as TGPF and comprising members of the government, Armed Forces and non-governmental organizations, said preparations for the creation of the situation, including the fatal shooting of four Trisakti University students and the riots, were made at the "highest decision-making level."

"The whole process preceding the riots had a very clear political dimension ... including efforts to secure extraordinary powers based on (an existing) decree (which would have given) the president (Soeharto) extra-constitutional powers to overcome any temporary emergency situation," team chairman Marzuki Darusman said after the announcement of the report during which the team's creators -- five cabinet ministers and the attorney general -- were conspicuously absent.

Marzuki said at the Ministry of Justice the team had found cases of sexual violence during the riots in Jakarta, Medan, North Sumatra and Surabaya, East Java.

The team directly or indirectly verified 52 victims of rape, another 14 victims of rape accompanied by violence and a further 10 victims of sexual attacks, Marzuki said.

There were an additional four cases of sexual harassment, he said.

"Not all the victims of sexual violence were from the ethnic Chinese (group), but the majority ... were women from the ethnic Chinese (group,)" Marzuki said.

"TGPF also found the majority of the rapes were gang rapes, where the victims were raped by a number of people at the same time and in the same place," Marzuki said, adding most of the rapes were committed before onlookers.

The team found nine victims of sexual violence who were attacked before and after the May riots, adding they were linked to those during the riots. Five of the victims were assaulted in Medan between May 4 and May 8, two in Jakarta on July 2 and two others in Surakarta, Central Java on July 8.

It also linked the unrest to a meeting at the headquarters of the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) on May 14.

Marzuki said, reading from the report, that the team believed the government "should conduct further investigations into the ... meeting ... to reveal and ascertain the role of Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto and other parties in the whole process which precipitated the riots".

A source said Prabowo, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, Golkar leader (now manpower minister) Fahmi Idris, and businessman Setiawan Djody were among those who attended the meeting.

The team concluded Sjafrie should be held responsible for the allegedly nonexistent security during the riots.

The team said it had found a common pattern during the rioting in various places, namely the presence of people with certain physical characteristics (including well-built physiques sporting crew cuts) who incited residents into violence.

The instigators were usually strangers in the areas where the violence took place, appeared trained, highly mobile and were also equipped with destructive means, including fuel and Molotov cocktails, the 28-page report said.

"There was the involvement of many parties, from local thugs, political and mass organizations, to several members and elements of the Armed Forces (ABRI) that were out of control during the riots," the report said.

The riots in Jakarta, some of the most violent the city has ever witnessed, took place on May 13 to May 15. They caused massive destruction, leaving more than 1,000 people dead, many of whom were looters caught by fires in buildings.

The report did not mention any figures for those who died during the riots but cited those earlier given by the Volunteers for Humanity, the police and the military.

The volunteers claimed that 1,190 people died in fires in Jakarta, and 27 others were killed by weapons. Another 33 people died in riots outside Jakarta.

Police said 451 people were killed during the riots in Jakarta and 32 outside Jakarta, while the military said 463 were killed in Jakarta.

The findings were made public after several delays from the original schedule of Oct. 23. Even on Tuesday, the announcement was delayed for several hours during which time one team member, Rosita S. Noer, left in apparent distress. (byg)