Victims, rape witnesses report to investigation team
JAKARTA (JP): At least 22 victims and witnesses of rapes during the May rioting have reported to a team recently established by the government to investigate human rights abuses during the unrest.
Antara quoted social workers as saying yesterday the victims and witnesses had reported to three different posts set up by the team. This will speed up the work of the team in uncovering human rights violations, said Sri Raharjeng, a social worker at the office of team member Dr Rosita Noer.
"Ten witnesses have called us," she said. Two others have called the post at Jl. Trunojoyo and 10 have called the post at Jl. Rasuna Said, both in South Jakarta, two other social workers said.
The response came only a day after the team's chairman, Marzuki Darusman, announced the members of his team.
Marzuki has guaranteed confidentiality and security for those who provide the team with information on human rights abuses committed during the May riots.
There is no need for people to worry about there being little result from the investigations being carried out by the team, said Marzuki, himself a member of the National Commission on Human Rights.
The government, together with the rights commission and several other non-governmental organizations, has launched an investigation into the rapes and sexual assaults of Chinese- Indonesian women at the height of the May 13 and May 14 riots in Jakarta and five other cities.
The government has also pledged to follow up on the team's findings.
The team involves personnel from the ministries of home affairs, foreign affairs, women's affairs and defense and security, the Attorney General's Office and the National Police. It will be assisted by two members of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) -- commander of the National Police Detective Corps, Dai Bachtiar, and head of the National Military Police Maj. Gen. Syamsu Djalal.
The team has announced that the public can send reports to the following addresses:
* Jl. Rasuna Said Blok 4-5, Kuningan, Central Jakarta. Tel: (021) 5221616
* Jl. Arus Dalam 1, Cawang, East Jakarta. Tel: (021) 8094531 Jl. Trunojoyo 3, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. Tel: (021) 7218576
* Jl. Diponogoro 74, Central Jakarta. Tel: (021) 3145518
* Jl. Hang Tuah Raya 3, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. Tel: (021) 7253395, or by e-mail at Joinstrsn@rad.net.id.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Committee for Islamic Solidarity (KISDI) lodged yesterday a complaint against the Jakarta-Jakarta magazine for allegedly discrediting Moslems through one of its news stories on the May rapes.
KISDI leader Ahmad Sumargono filed the complaint with Director General of General Information Soedarjanto and Director General of Press and Graphic Dailami, representing Minister of Information Muhammad Yunus.
Sumargono met the officials to ask permission before hiring a team of defense lawyers to settle the case, Antara reported.
The magazine wrote in its July/609 edition of a rape of a woman of Chinese descent, in which the rapist allegedly said: "This is because you are Chinese and non-Moslem."
"This discredits Islam as if the rapist must have been Moslem," Sumargono said.