Cindy Shiner, Jakarta – Indonesia-Genoveva Misiati named her son Bima, after a traditional Indonesian shadow puppet character that symbolizes honesty, strength and courage. She apparently hoped it would act as a mystical safeguard against trouble.
Her wish, however, foundered on political upheaval. Bima's life has been reduced to memories and fading photographs.
Bima, whose full name is Petrus Bima Anugerah, is one of 20 political activists who disappeared earlier this year at a time of crushing economic crisis and rising student protests against the government. Eight of them were abducted by security forces and later released from detention, but the military says it knows nothing of Bima and 11 others. The new government of President B. J. Habibie is trying to prove its commitment to reform by putting pressure on the military to investigate abuses. Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, a son-in-law of former president Suharto, has been fired for his role in the disappearances. Ten soldiers face possible court-martial.
Two military officers were sentenced in mid-August to less than a year in prison for exceeding orders in connection with the shootings of four student demonstrators in May, although no one has been charged with the shootings themselves. It is still unclear where the bullets came from that killed the students. The deaths were followed by two days of massive rioting that claimed more than 1,000 lives and helped trigger Suharto's resignation.
The government announced last month that it had ordered the release of 32 political prisoners, bringing to more than 200 the total number of such inmates freed under Habibie. Nearly 100 more remain in jail.
Human rights groups say thousands of political activists disappeared during Suharto's 32-year rule. Investigations are currently underway into reports of mass graves in the province of Aceh, which along with areas of East Timor and Irian Jaya has been the focus of military operations against government opponents.
Misiati and relatives of the other missing activists repeatedly have gone to the office of the defense minister to demand information about their sons, husbands and brothers. Wiranto finally agreed to see the group last month and acknowledged that he still knows "nothing of their whereabouts and whether they are still alive or not."
Andi Arief, who was abducted and recently released, has said that, based on comments made by his captors, he believes at least two of the missing men are dead. Those who have been freed said that security forces beat them and tortured them with electric shocks to force them to reveal the names of colleagues or plans they were suspected of having to disrupt the presidential election in March.
"There's lots of reasons they don't want to come up with these 12 people," said a Western diplomat. "They're dead, they're mutilated or they're dead and mutilated. Right now I see the government as complicit in a coverup because it's not credible to say, 'We can't find them.'" Like many of the activists, Bima began his political activities at university and soon joined the youth wing of the People's Democratic Party, which was formed in 1994 to press for political reform and later banned by Suharto. While studying philosophy in the city of Surabaya in July 1996, Bima was instrumental in helping put together an anti-government demonstration that involved thousands of laborers and students.
"He was only 23 years old at the time but he had a capacity to organize a lot of people," said Wilson, who goes by one name. Wilson spent two years in prison because of his activities with the People's Democratic Party; he was released in July.
"My son said that in that organization there is hope for change in Indonesia," said Misiati, describing a conversation she and her husband had with Bima. "I said, 'What kind of change do you want?' He said, 'I want to have a change in education, politics and the movement of the workers.' "
"We said if you want to get involved in that organization you are going to hit a steel wall," Misiati said. Bima replied: "I know that, but if I don't do this, the next generation will be ruined." In subsequent months, Bima spent time with fellow party members, gathering with them at night, playing the guitar and singing songs by the Bee Gees and Beatles as well as others written about Indonesia's political struggle.
The Suharto government viewed joining the People's Democratic Party as tantamount to treason because its members were suspected of harboring communist ideals. Suharto had come to power in 1965 in the wake of what was described as an aborted communist coup against his predecessor, president Sukarno.
Bima and other youths who worked in the new party resented Suharto, his children and their cronies for amassing fortunes worth an estimated $40 billion during three decades of authoritarian rule. The activists now demand that Suharto be brought to justice and that the wealth be returned to help rehabilitate Indonesia's economy. Bima told his family nearly two years ago that he began to notice the potential for change in Indonesia. When Bima failed to go home last December, Misiati wrote him asking, "Don't you love your mother anymore?" He replied:
"It is not that I don't love my parents. But my life is not for my parents only. I don't want life to be a routine. ...I want to do something that other people need. If I don't I would be very disappointed and regret it. I would even die." Over the next three months, Bima went deeper underground as student protests grew. He was last seen on March 31, and his friends and family assume he was kidnapped by security forces. If he is still alive, he would be 25.
[On September 17 the Straits Times reported that Amien Rais had called for the court-martial Prabowo, saying it was the only way in which families of missing activists could gain justice. "It is quite amazing. Prabowo admitted that he gave orders to kidnap nine activists, so he must be court-martialled ...yet he is now living a loose life as a civilian", he said - James Balowski.]