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Police clarification will be asked

Source
Kompas - April 25, 1998

The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will shortly ask the State Police Headquarters to clarify the matter of "missing" people, following the discovery of a "missing" activist being detained at the State Police Headquarters. The Komnas HAM will also urge the apparatus to investigate fully the "abductors" of the activists, and take them to court.

The deputy chairman of the Komnas HAM, M Darusman, said that the issue would soon be questioned, if not today, then tomorrow. He was responding to the press after a seminar in Jakarta on Friday (24/4).

Meanwhile, when receiving the Volunteers For Humanity Team which was siding the relatives of "missing" students, Komnas HAM member A Hasibuan said that the increasing number of "missing" persons indicated an increase of strong-arm politics which does not center around law. This strong-arm politics is monologue in character and anti-dialogue. It must be ended, because it will promote a culture of fear.

Discrepancies

By mailed letter the police informed the family of Andi Arief in Lampung (received 23 April) that he had been detained since 29 March 1998. But until 22 April the State Police Chief, Gen. Dibyo Widodo stated as per several mass media that he only knew about three "missing" persons who had returned (Pius, Desmond, Haryanto -Ed.) Similarly the Armed Forces central information head, AW Mokodongan. Asked by journalists on 17 April last, he stated not knowing about that number of people missing (Kompas, 20/4).

The existence of that letter from the police was conveyed by Munir from the work body of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Harsh Actions, at the YLBHI office in Jakarta yesterday.

Besides that letter from the Police Detective Corps dated 18 April 1998, at the same time Andi Arief's family received a letter from the Attorney General's Office in Jakarta, dated 17 April, that his detention had been extended from 18 April to 27 May 1998. This letter was shown by Andi's father to journalists at the LBH office in Bandarlampung. With a happy face he said he would visit his son at the State Police Headquarters this Saturday (25/4).

Not true

Munir recounted that the statement in the police letter that Andi's family had already been informed on 29 March was not true, considering that when on 5 April his family sided by the LBH Lampung checked at the Lampung police and reported a person "missing", the police stated not to know anything about the person. So the notification letter of 29 March never happened.

Andi Arief also denies having received a letter of arrest, until Thursday (23/4) never having received any police document concerning detention.

The mother of Faisal Rozi fervently hopes her child will be returned and reunited with his family. Yani Afri's mother also hopes that her son, who has been missing for 10 months, can be found.

Meanwhile AB Nasution evaluates that the disappearance of a number of people, and the hesitance to comment by people who were missing but now have returned, reflects a deep atmosphere of fear in Indonesia. That is an international disgrace which needs to be settled soon.

The chairman of the Armed Forces fraction in parliament has asked the people who were "missing" and have returned to be willing to disclose what they have experienced. Because that matter concerns Human Rights, which can always influence the nation's credibility in the view of the outer world. The same matter was put forward by Functional Group fraction chairman Irsyad Sudiro.

To the CM Hospital

After the meeting with the Komnas HAM, the Volunteers Team group went to the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital to identify a corpse found on Thursday (23/4) on the side of the Prof Sedyatmo toll road in Cengkareng. That corpse of a male person was found in a bag with wounds thought to be caused by fire-arms and torture. Just the head is left, and identification will be difficult.

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