We are indebted to the May victims

We are indebted to the May victims

Today, the families and the civitas academica of the Trisakti
University will hold the fifth commemoration of the heroic death
of four Trisakti students on May 12, 1998. Soeharto quit just
nine days after Elang Mulya, Hafidhin Royan, Hendriawan Lesmana,
and Herry Hartanto lost their lives in their peaceful struggle to
end Soeharto's 31-year dictatorship. Anti-riot troops opened
fire on the students as they were retreating to their campus in
West Jakarta as demanded by the security forces.

Also this week, the families, friends and relatives of the
victims of the bloody riots in a number of cities on May 13-14,
which followed the above shootings, may also pray for their loved
ones who lost their lives in the national tragedy. According to
the official result of a government-appointed fact finding team,
at least 66 women, mainly Chinese-Indonesians, were raped during
the riots, and many others were sexually harassed. Scores of
Chinese-Indonesians have since fled the land of their birth in
fear of more barbarism.

Hundreds of people, including youngsters were burned alive,
trapped in burning shopping centers. Many had been provoked to
loot shops, supermarkets and malls. Most of them could not be
identified, and without enough evidence, the government branded
all of the victims as looters.

The mourning families can likely hope for little from the
state to find and punish those responsible for the tragedy; none
of the findings of the above team have been followed up on. Last
week, the National Commission for Human Rights announced that the
case would be re-opened.

Yet the House of Representatives (DPR) has concluded that the
May riots were normal crimes -- and had nothing to do with human
rights violations.

Many of our top politicians, from President Megawati
Soekarnoputri to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
Speaker Amien Rais would not be in their current positions had it
not been for the victims and the students across the country who
had bravely risked their lives to end Soeharto's rule.

Most of the major political parties, excluding Soeharto's
former party Golkar, would also not be in power without the
sacrifice of the students and others who will remain unknown. But
what have they, including Megawati and Amien, done as an
expression of their gratitude for these forgotten heroes? They
have hardly even bothered to offer lip service.

After five years, the students' parents have yet to see
justice done for the parties responsible for their children's
murder. Every year, before the commemoration of the Trisakti
tragedy and the fall of Soeharto in May, the Attorney General's
Office, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police
repeat their mantra on why they have not been able to accomplish
their mission to uphold justice.

We have had three presidents since May 1998, but none of them
have been able to show even a little progress to reveal the
mystery of the May tragedy. Former president B.J. Habibie
declared the four dead students heroes of reformasi (reform)
without being able to find their killers. He promised to
investigate the cases of the dead alleged looters, as well as
those for rape and sexual assault. His promises never came to
anything.

His successor Abdurrahman Wahid also could not do much.
However, he deserves praise for his strong commitment to
reinvestigating and re-opening the mystery of the alleged coup
attempt by the Indonesian Communist Party in 1965, in which
hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and which led to the
succession from Megawati's father Sukarno to Soeharto in 1967.

Abdurrahman was hampered at every turn by certain parties, but
at least he had shown that we are obliged to probe and settle the
dark pages of our history.

How about Megawati? We would be wrong to expect her to do
anything regarding the May riots -- given that she does not even
seem to care about the fate of her own supporters who sacrificed
their lives to defend their her, their idol, during the July 27
massacre in 1996. She has even promoted those believed
responsible for the casualties in the violent takeover of her
party headquarters, most notably, the incumbent Jakarta Governor
Lt. Gen. (ret.) Sutiyoso.

The nation owes it to the four students and to all the people
who have risked their lives and position to bring democracy to
our country. Without any intention for revenge, the case of May
1998 must not remain covered up. Yet the facts are bitter. The
state is not able, or not willing, to protect its own citizens
from injustice. Nevertheless, we believe the fighting spirit of
the four martyrs remains and that their death will not merely
become a trivia question in our history.