13 years after: Victims still push for justice

Families of victims and human rights activists began a campaign this month to remind the people and government about the tragedy that occurred 13 years ago, when thousands took to the street while fires burned buildings.

“The government turns a blind eye and we’ve never got the justice we wanted,” Ruyati Darwin told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Ruyati lost her son, Eten Karyana, to the May 1998 riot, also known as the May Tragedy. Her son was trapped in the blazing Yogya Plaza (now Klender Mall) in East Jakarta. The May 1998 riots surrounded the fall of Soeharto’s regime, and occurred in several cities in Indonesia.

Ruyati asked that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono push the Attorney General’s Office to follow up on the dossier that has been stagnant for years.

Ruyati was among the campaigning families of victims, who along with human rights activists, participated in several events such as film screenings and discussions to remind Indonesians about the dark past.

Supported by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), they organized events to observe the May 1998 riot from May 6 to 25.

“We want the state to declare that [former president] Soeharto was responsible [for various incidents in the past]. That will make a huge difference to the victims,” Haris Azhar, Kontras coordinator, said.

According to a recent survey held by the Chinese Youth Network (JTM), only a few school students could remember the May Tragedy. The survey was carried out from April 7 to 27 with a total of 1,000 respondents.

Citing the survey, JTM coordinator Alexander Ferry said about 80 percent of respondents believed that similar tragedies might occur sometime in the future, although most acknowledged that the current security situation was far better than in 1998.

Eighty-five percent of respondents believed the tragedy was engineered since it was executed professionally. They also believe that the May 1998 riots were racially motivated although they said it was difficult to prove this claim. Having been traumatized by terrifying violence during the tragedy, 61 percent of respondents said they wished the May Tragedy be commemorated every year. “They also think that education can prevent a recurrence of such a tragedy,” he said.

Only four percent of the respondents learned about the tragedy from educational forms. Wanmayetti, the secretary-general of the Indonesian Association of Families of Missing Persons, said the organization invited the participation of history teachers and students to join the campaign. “We are exhausted, but after years of struggling we can see changes even if they are little. What we are doing now is keeping it from vanishing,” Wanmayetti said.

Andy Yentriyani from the National Commission on Violence Against Women said the government had made few efforts to have the May Tragedy recognized as a critical episode in Indonesian history.

“It only says the tragedy involves a string of mass protests initiated by students, leading to the fall of the Soeharto regime. It does not explain the horrible mass rapes against Chinese women and mass killings against innocent people during the riots,” Andy told a press conference ahead of activities to commemorate the May 1998 tragedy.” she said. (swd)