Jakarta – A leading human rights watchdog says four missing activists from the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) may have been abducted by hired thugs or assassins.
Four student activists went missing after participating in a hunger strike at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) building on August 14. They were reportedly taken away inside an ambulance by security personnel and dropped off outside the General Election Commission headquarters on Jalan Imam Bonjol, Central Jakarta.
Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Munarman yesterday accompanied 14 relatives of the missing activists during a meeting with National Police spokesman Brigadier General Dadang Garnida on Jalan Trunojoyo in Blok M, South Jakarta.
Munarman said the masterminds of the abductions could be powerful businessmen who built up vast fortunes by using devious methods to seize properties from traditional land owners during the corrupt regime of ex-president Soeharto.
"It's possible that thugs were hired by some of the tycoons who took land away from locals during the Soeharto era. They may have feared the activists would help the people to reclaim their properties," he told detikcom.
The four missing students are Usep Setiawan, Idham Kurniawan, M. Hafid Asdam and Anton Sulton. All are from Padjadjaran University, except Sulton, who is enrolled at the Bandung Law Institute.
When the students were first reported missing, police official Setiyanto said the activists had asked to be dropped off outside Hotel Indonesia, Central Jakarta. But police thought that was a bad idea, because many MPR members were staying at that hotel, with the Indonesian taxpayer picking up the bill.
After allegedly being left on Jalan Imam Bonjol, the activists have never been seen again. Munarman said it's possible that hired thugs had been kitted out in police uniforms in order to trick the students and any witnesses, and to put the police in a difficult situation. He said authorities must investigate the possibility that illegal land owners played a role in the kidnappings.
Siti Qomariyah, the mother of Anton Sulton, appealed to police to take the abductions seriously and find the activists.
Earlier, police officials claimed the students had faked the kidnappings in a bid to tarnish the reputation of the MPR. Secretary General of National Committee of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Asmara Nababan has said police evacuated the students from the MPR, so they should be held responsible for their fate.
"The police were the last persons who saw them [the activists], so they can't say they have done no wrong if the students are still missing," he said. He said National Police Chief General Rusdihardjo could be sued.
During the final months of the Soeharto era, the military often kidnapped and tortured pro-democracy activists. Some were never released and are presumed to have been killed. State judicial institutions have never bothered to seriously probe the fate of the missing activists.
On August 23, Detik reported that one of the activists' houses was broken into on August 22 ransacking the house and taking some documents - James Balowski.]