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May 1998 bloody riots were planned: Rights body
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The
Jakarta Post
May
8, 2003
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May 1998 bloody riots were planned: Rights body
JAKARTA (JP): Riots which killed more than 1,000 people in the capital city of
Jakarta in May 1998 were systematically planned, official human rights commission
said here on Thursday.
The three-day riots "did not take place spontaneously but were systematically
planned for widespread mayhem," said Enny Suprapto, from a team set up by the
National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to investigate the violence.
"The widespread riots were instigated by groups of provocateurs who broke into
buildings and shops and encouraged mobs to loot them. They did not take part in the
action but instead they moved on to another area in the city," Enny told AFP.
He did not say who was believed to have organised the violence, which broke out just
before longtime dictator Soeharto resigned.
But he said investigators plan to question several high-ranking military and police
officers who were in charge of security at the time such as former armed forces chief
General Wiranto, former army strategic reserve command chief Prabowo and former
Jakarta military chief Major General Syafrie Syamsuddin.
The team concluded that the riots were the result of a power struggle among political
forces and the worsening economy. "We will send a letter to Indonesia's armed forces
chief and we will ask a district court here to issue an order to summon these officers
by force if necessary," he said.
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