Victims of Tj. Priok bloody clash make peace with military

Victims of Tj. Priok bloody clash make peace with military

JAKARTA (JP): Several relatives of the late Amir Biki, the
Muslim cleric killed in the 1984 bloody shooting at Tanjung
Priok, North Jakarta, signed on Friday an islah (traditional
Islamic peace agreement) with military officers responsible for
the incident.

Arief Biki, the victim's younger brother, said the accord was
signed last Tuesday with former Jakarta Military commander Try
Sutrisno, who was in charge of security in the capital at the
time of the incident.

This accord should be considered the end of the case, Arief
said, adding that no other parties should bring up the subject
regarding the death of his brother again.

"We've waited 17 years for the settlement of this case. But
the death of our brother has been used as a political football
for the interest of others," said Arief, adding that the signing
of the accord was in line with the relatives' intention to settle
the case no later than this year.

"And if the state still fails to apologize to the victims,
then we will," he said, in reference to his determination.

Arief, who is also a member of the People's Consultative
Assembly, told a news conference at the official residence of
former vice president Try in Kuningan, South Jakarta, that
signing a peace accord was decided during a meeting among the
relatives.

He claimed that some of them did not agree with the move and
insisted that the government should bring the perpetrators to
justice. But the islah, he said, would not hamper legal
proceedings over the case which is now in the hands of the
Attorney General's Office.

"It's up to Attorney General M.A. Rachman, who is also the
head of the team investigating this case. But we have made our
stance in the case clear to the Attorney General's Office and the
Indonesian Military (TNI) and that is we want to have peaceful
lives and no more politics.

"We urge the attorney general not to name the suspects in the
case and to stop investigating it," he added.

The peace accord is the continuation of an earlier effort made
by 86 Tanjung Priok residents who claimed to be victims of the
incident. They principally agreed to end the dispute by taking
"compensation" in the form of the establishment of a foundation
named Yayasan Penerus Bangsa. The foundation is in charge of
supporting Tanjung Priok victims who were disabled or lost their
jobs following the incident.

With Tuesday's peace accord, the Biki family and military
officers on duty at the time have agreed to settle with a mutual
apology. They also urged the government to give both moral and
material support to the families with either an Islamic
development project, an Islamic center in Tanjung Priok or the
renovation of a mosque built by the late Amir.

Try said that the former military officers responsible for the
incident had not promised to pay compensation, but attempted to
persuade the government to rehabilitate the victims' names and to
offer financial support.

"Even though Biki's family refused to join the Penerus Bangsa
foundation, we have a similar wish for a peaceful solution to the
case. We have buried the case because we know that there will be
no solution if we continue to blame each other," Try said.

The shooting, which erupted after a mass demonstration
demanded the release of four residents arrested at Tanjung Priok
Military Command, killed 33 people, but eyewitnesses said they
saw a truckload of charred bodies. The government formed an ad
hoc human rights trial for the case.

Earlier on Friday, relatives of Amir went to the TNI
Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, for a closed-door
meeting with TNI chief Adm. Widodo A.S, Army Chief of Staff Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto and TNI spokesman Rear Air Marshall Graito
Usodo.

Also present at the 15-minute meeting were Brig. Gen. Rally
Butar-Butar, the East Jakarta Military District commander at the
time of the incident.

The meeting was aimed at reporting to the TNI chiefs that both
parties had reached an agreement to peacefully settle the
dispute.

"The two parties also agreed to stop politicizing over the
case," Graito said from his office after the meeting.

Graito further said that TNI did not facilitate the meeting.
"They came here (to Cilangkap) more because the incident involved
this institution in the past. Nothing else," he said. (bby/tso)