 |
Indonesia's Human Rights Body Welcomes May Riots Probe
Following the decision of the Indonesia's Attorney General Office (AGO) to launch a comprehensive investigation into the May riots 1998, the country's human rights body (Komnas HAM) has welcomed such a plan, saying the probe should not be postponed until the new law on human rights trials is ratified by the House, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The Indonesian Observer daily quoted a member of the Komnas HAM, Bambang W. Suharto as saying that the AGO has done the right thing by asking the Komnas HAM to make a report on the government- appointed of the Joint Fact-Finding Team (TGPF).
"We agree there is a need for a quick action from the AGO to reinvestigate the May riots," Suharto said.
Earlier, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman pledged his side will launch a comprehensive investigation and set one week dead- line for the Komnas HAM to submit the report for further legal action.
On May 13-15, 1998, only a few days before former president Soeharto stepped down, Indonesia saw the worst looting and rioting in decades in three main cities, namely Jakarta, Medan, Solo. It was believed at least 1,300 people were killed in the riots, and thousands of buildings and vehicles were damaged or set on fire. A wide-spread rape and torture on ethnic Chinese women was also believed to had been conducted by the rioters at that time.
The TGPF issued a report confirming that nearly 1,300 lives were claimed and 52 women were raped with 14 more falling victim to rape with violence, 10 to sexual attacks and nine to sexual harassment. But until now, there are no exact figure on the victims of rape which mostly were believed to be experienced by ethnic Chinese women. The Indonesian Ethnic Chinese Reforms Party put the number of rape victims at 300 including a nine years old girl.
"It is very clear there were human right abuses and violence conducted against ethnic Chinese during the riots," Bambang W. Suharto said in a statement, adding that the Komnas HAM is seeking more supporting evidence to bring the case to court.
In This Section
|