Jakarta – The mothers of people abducted in the late 1990s joined victims themselves at a moot court in Jakarta on Monday to try those responsible for gross human rights violations committed between 1997-1998, saying they still have hope justice will prevail in the country.
Tuti Koto, mother of abducted democracy activist Yani Afri, said she still looked forward to the day a fair trial would be held to bring those responsible for human rights violations to justice.
"I simply demand justice. Never again should children of this nation become victims like my son. I want the country to be clean of gross human rights violations," she told the moot court being held by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) to commemorate the May 1998 tragedy.
Yani was a public transportation driver and loyalist of Megawati Soekarnoputri, then opposition leader who chaired the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). At that time, the PDI and Megawati staunchly criticized Soeharto's government and its ruling party, Golkar.
Yani disappeared in 1997. When nine victims of abduction, including Pius Lustrilanang and Nezar Patria, were released alive in 1998, they told Tuti they had met her son Yani in their cell. To this day, he has never returned.
Victims claim they were abducted by Kopassus, the elite force of the Army. While they have admitted to the abductions since then, Kopassus also claims everybody taken during that time has been set free.
Those who remain missing are Petrus Bima Anugrah, Herman Hendrawan, Suyat, Wiji Thukul, Yani Afri, Sonny, Dedi Hamdun, Noval Al Katiri, Ismail, Ucok Siahaan, Hendra Hambali, Yadin Muhidin, and Abdun Nasser. All were activists or linked directly with political parties.
"Oh, yes, there was a court session held years ago. But it was a court of lies," said Tuti. "The families of the victims were not given a chance to say anything. We just had to sit like dolls."
A military court in February 1999 sentenced 11 Kopassus soldiers to between 12 and 20 months in prison for the abductions, with some being fired from their military posts after being released.
However, top military leaders remain free even as of today. Current presidential candidates Prabowo Subianto and Wiranto – former Kopassus chief and military commander respectively – were widely blamed for these incidents.
The May 1998 tragedy saw mass killings, rapes and riots across the nation. The riots were triggered by the shooting of four students by snipers at the Trisaktif university compound in Jakarta. In response, thousands of students flowed into the streets and waves of violent protests spread to other major cities.
In the following days, Jakarta along with other Indonesian cities fell into chaos. By the close of May, mass-looting and random killings ended one of the darkest chapters in the nation's history. Kontras claim more than 1,000 people died.
Maemunah, mother of Nurhadi, a high school student who was killed by a large mob at a mall in East Jakarta, remains adamant a larger force was responsible.
"It was not an accident. The lootings and fires across the city were planned. I saw people calling on students to loot the stores."
Hanging behind the judges at the moot court were the portraits of 21 people still missing. After hearing from two witnesses and a legal expert, the single-session moot court sentenced two persons in absentia to life in prison and fined them Rp 10 trillion (US$830 million) in compensation for the victims. The convicts were named in the court as Prabowo and Wiranto. (iwp)