Wiranto must apologize: Activists
JAKARTA (JP): Acehnese activists demanded here yesterday that Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto apologize for doubting the findings of a National Commission on Human Rights' investigation of military atrocities allegedly committed in Aceh.
The commission itself challenged any doubters to double check its findings yesterday.
Commission member Koesparmono Irsan told journalists that if the military doubted the findings of the commission team which excavated mass graves containing the victims of the alleged atrocities, they could check with the North Sumatra University Forensics Department and local doctors who assisted in the exhumation of bodies from the sites.
A group of Acehnese activists also blasted Wiranto's remarks, saying that it was a cynical attempt to prevent the Armed Forces' reputation from being sullied by the shameful revelations now coming out of Aceh.
"If he (Wiranto) was able to apologize for what happened to us during the military operations then he must also apologize for making this statement," the groups's coordinator Fajran Zain said.
He contended that it should be the Aceh people themselves who have the right to judge the accuracy of the findings since it was them who experienced the terrors of the military operations at first hand.
Wiranto on Wednesday criticized the commission for publicizing its findings on the number of victims of alleged atrocities perpetrated by the military in Aceh over the last decade without first checking with the authorities.
The commission announced on Monday that it had received reports that at least 782 people were killed, 368 tortured, 168 reported missing, 3,000 women widowed and between 15,000 and 20,000 children orphaned during the nine years of military operations against Acehnese separatists which began in 1989.
Wiranto even suggested that some of the skeletons unearthed by the commission could have been victims of the 1965 communist uprising.
"Skeletons don't talk do they," Wiranto remarked.
Acehnese activists decried the ease with which Wiranto brushed aside the findings after they met with Baharuddin Lopa, M. Salim, Soegiri and Koesparmono from the commission's fact finding team yesterday.
"Only the people of Aceh have the right to respond... because it was the Acehnese people who first reported the atrocities to the National Commission on Human Rights," Fajran remarked.
He said that it was incorrect to suggest that the graves contained victims of the 1965 communist uprising because the skeletons were still adorned in the remains of clothes bearing recognizable brand names.
Separately in Semarang, Central Java, commission member Satjipto Rahardjo said the team was ready to reveal its findings.
"If there are parties who regret our findings, that's their right. But if they suggest that we have been unprofessional, careless and not diligent in checking the evidence, we cannot accept that," said Satjipto, who is a senior lecturer at Diponegoro University in Semarang.
In Medan, North Sumatra, sociologist Asma Affan urged President B.J. Habibie to visit the sites of the alleged atrocities.
A mere apology from the President for the atrocities committed during the military operation is not enough for the Acehnese people, Asma claimed.
"An apology from the president will not heal the pain and suffering of the families and relatives of victims of the atrocities," he said late on Thursday. (har/emf)