Jakarta – Scores of people who witnessed and survived the 1984 massacre at Tanjung Priok, yesterday rallied outside the Attorney General's Office in Blok M, South Jakarta, demanding that action be taken against retired generals who ordered the slaughter of an estimated 400 Muslims at the North Jakarta port area.
Representatives of the protesters at 10.30am were granted a meeting with Attorney General Marzuki Darusman and submitted data and files on the case.
The demonstrators, who included relatives of the massacre victims, urged Marzuki to conduct a serious investigation into the case, reveal the facts, and take legal action against the retired military officials. Yesterday's meeting was organized by plucky human rights crusader Munir, who is the founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) earlier this year formed the Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Abuses at Tanjung Priok (KP3T). The investigation by KP3T concluded that there never was a massacre at Tanjung Priok.
Activists believe the investigation was a sham and part of a long running cover-up, because KP3T held talks with current and former military officials, and because it refused to unearth mass graves where the victims are believed to have been buried. KP3T head Koesparmono Irsan was present at yesterday's meeting but he didn't want to tell reporters about the commission's latest findings.
Relatives of the massacre victims said they are unsatisfied with the performance of the attorney general, because they have met with him many times, yet he has never bothered to take any concrete actions to take the perpetrators to court. KP3T has gathered a lot of new information on the case and submitted it to the Attorney General's Office.
Unconfirmed reports say at least 400 Muslims were shot dead by troops on September 12, 1984, at Tanjung Priok during an anti-government, anti-military protest against the regime of then-president Soeharto. The bodies were reportedly trucked away and secretly buried in mass graves, mostly in East Jakarta, near military bases.
Activists say the two retired generals most responsible for the slaughter are former military commander Benny Moerdani and former Jakarta Military chief Try Sutrisno. Try initially denied there had been any massacre but later said troops had merely been following orders, adding they had shot in self defense and to defuse potential riots.