Riots & rape in central java solo 1998

              Women's commission said that human rights violations in Indonesia tend to never be recognized, even hidden

SOW FLOWERS. Human rights activists from Solo and Komnas women visited the tombs in TPU Purwoloyo.

 SOLO, Indonesia - Tri Wahyuni ​​still remember the mass funeral event at TPU Purwoloyo, Solo one afternoon in May 1998. There are 23 bodies in plastic wrapped conditions that come trucked by police and buried together in one location."The bodies (inserted) in plastics, thrown in here," said Tri, one of the residents who live around the tomb and was in charge of cleaning the grave.Although located on the side of the road that divides the tomb complex, mass graves were barely visible due to overgrown shrubs. There were no tombstones on it.After the weeds are cleared, only a plot of 2X10 square meters of flat land surrounded by bricks and cement is 30 centimeters tall. It is said that the local people who gave the marker so that the grave can be recognized if a time anyone came to visit him.Underneath it lies the unnamed bodies of victims of the May 1998 riots in the city of Solo that occurred one week before the fall of Suharto. But no one can be sure who they are and die for what.Purwoloyo, one of the silent witnesses who keep the bodies of the tumbal reformers. In the complex, also buried an activist Leonardus Nugroho Iskandar alias Gilang. He was found dead with a bullet wound to his chest in Magetan, East Java, a few days since disappearing on May 22, 1998.Meanwhile, in Solo, the tragedy of May 1998 was almost silent in history. Although the city was once destroyed by a two-day riots targeting ethnic Chinese.Unlike Jakarta which has started to open the dark history and memabadikannya through memorial park in Pondok Rangon, until now there has been no recognition of the state (Solo City Government) for the truth of the events that took the lives of it. As if the tragedy had never happened.

Human rights abuses have never been recognizedThe riots of Jakarta and Solo had the same pattern, provoked by a group of unknown people, well-built, short-haired, yelling and starting to burn at the intersection. They then spread to the ethnic Chinese shops, pelted and invited to loot. Then, they disappeared.Surprisingly, Solo, a small town surrounded by military headquarters - Kopassus and Kostrad - was easily ignited by unrestrained unrest.The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) formed by former President Habibie after the May 1998 tragedy, is now re-examining the case that occurred 18 years ago. They considered there was a systematic indication of human rights violations.Together with a number of activists in Solo, they went to a mass grave and met with witnesses to listen to their stories, including looking for local media documentation that recorded the event."This will be a step to reveal the truth and recognition from local and state governments that there has been an event of 98," Komnas Perempuan Commissioner Mariana Amiruddin told Rappler.He said human rights violations in this country tend to never be recognized and even hidden, including the 1965 and 1998 cases. Should, said Mariana, every violent occurrence, the state takes seriously, seeks perpetrators and recovers victims."This is a big statement for human rights workers like us. Why are people dead like that really forgotten and silenced? "Asked Mariana.Komnas Perempuan, assisted by activists from Jejer Wadon and Satunama, has encouraged the city government to build memorial parks as a reminder that similar tragedies will not happen in the future. However, the plan was stalled by the Mayor's efforts to request the victim's data to be included in the monument."We have requested data to activist friends. But, until now no. If you want to make a monument, the data must be accurate, can not make up, "said the Mayor of Solo, FX Hadi Rudyatmo

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 Mayor's wish had made a number of activists in Solo growled. Because, they consider that searching for victims of violence and record is the responsibility of the state organizers. Up to now, the issue of how and where the death toll in the May 98 riots in Solo has never been seriously revealed.The number of victims is likelyAccording to the testimony of several people who saw the victim fall, the number of 23 victims in TPU Purwoloyo is too small. One of the witnesses whose house is not far from Tomb of Purwoloyo, Sipon, tells of the addition of 23 bodies in mass graves, many are still buried in the back of the plot. But not marked."I do not know how many. But, clearly more than 23 people, "said Sipon.Purwoloyo is one of the great tombs in Solo which is also used to bury unnamed bodies, such as accident without identity. Thus, there are many graves found with Mr. Tana. X or Ms. X.Wiji Thukul's wife, the missing poet ahead of the reforms, also said there was a transfer of the corpse that was also the victim of May 1998 from Bonoloyo Tomb to Purwoloyo. However, no one knows exactly where the location is.


Action of rape

 This case is the most difficult to trace because it does not leave a trace like a mass grave. Unlike in Jakarta, where victims' families reported the case - which recorded about 80 cases of sexual assault and mass rape - in Solo, these events existed between none and none. The families of May 98 victims in Solo tend to be closed.One survivor who is also ethnic Chinese, Cecilia Maria Purnadi alias Oeke, did not witness the case of mass rapes in one of the centers of riots in Legi Market. The fifth generation of Ganep bakery owners in Solo who were burned by the mob only knew many of the victims died in a fire at the Statue of the Queen of Luwes.Another witness, Reverend Mungki, who co-ordinated victims of the May 98 riots, said at least 40 people from his Chinese ethnic congregation were subjected to riots and suffered material losses. But none of them claimed to be raped."There is indeed a young family in Pucangsawit, his house raided by mobs, both of whom escaped to climb the back wall. The wife was arrested, held her leg, but managed to rescue local residents, "said Mungki.Meanwhile, according to Sumartono Hadinoto, one of the survivors of the May 98 riots, he heard the confessions of several Chinese families who were victims of rape, but by this time they had moved out of town since the incident.Nevertheless, Komnas Perempuan will continue to search for other witnesses to expose the alleged sexual assault and rape in Solo. They realize it is not easy to convince a government that continues to deny the events of May 98, if without evidence."It's a challenge for us to conduct research, interviewing people, witnessing events, and survivors. We want to show that this event exists. If later denied again, yes too much, "said Mariana