Jenny Grant, Jakarta – The revelation that a member of the fact-finding team probing the May riots attended a controversial meeting in the middle of the crisis undermined the team's report, it was claimed yesterday.

Fadli Zon, director of the Institute of Policy Studies, said the fact that lawyer and team member Bambang Widjojanto had attended the crucial meeting at a military office cast doubt on the credibility of the report. "I was surprised with the analysis; it's very low quality. They have jumped to conclusions," said Mr Zon, a Muslim figure close to the military.

Mr Zon said he and Mr Widjojanto had attended a meeting of about 20 people at the army's Strategic Reserves headquarters in central Jakarta on May 14. The team's report, released on Tuesday, said the meeting had been crucial in identifying the roles of the leading figures within the struggle that led to the riots.

But Mr Zon said the meeting had played no such role. He questioned the report's credibility as the role of the meeting had not been properly determined even with Mr Widjojanto in attendance. Mr Zon is close to Prabowo Subianto, the retired lieutenant-general who was named in the report as a figure in the riots.

General Prabowo's brother, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, said in a fiery defence on Wednesday that he was sick and tired of the slander meted out to his brother over the riots and kidnappings. His brother was forced to resign from the military in August over the kidnapping and torture of activists.

Mr Djojohadikusumo said the meeting at Strategic Reserves had been initiated by human rights lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution. Mr Zon said that during the 90-minute meeting Mr Nasution and General Prabowo had done most of the talking. Mr Nasution allegedly called for the resignation of then-president Suharto because his credibility was low.

Members at the meeting condemned the shooting of students at Trisakti University on May 12. The team's report said the shootings had triggered the riots. Mr Zon said General Prabowo had agreed with others at the meeting that the killers had to be caught and said he had had no involvement. The meeting was also attended by businessman Setiawan Djody, poet W. S. Rendra, Indonesian Ulamas Council member Amidhan and lawyer Hotman Sitompul.

The participants began to arrive at the army building late in the afternoon and waited until General Prabowo was available at 7pm. "It was just a regular meeting, there was nothing secretive. It was a gathering of friends," Mr Zon said. A foreign diplomat said the respected Mr Widjojanto would not have insisted the team investigate the meeting if nothing extraordinary had taken place.