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he Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and the Families of Missing Persons Association (IKOHI) demanded that the Indonesian Ombudsman remind President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take action on the disappearances of activists in 1997-1998.

“We are urging the Ombudsman to push the matter forward by sending another request for clarification to the President,” said IKOHI chairman Mugiyanto, a former activist, and one of the nine 1998 kidnapping victims who was released alive.

The Ombudsman, a state body monitoring violations by state authorities, sent a request for an explanation to the President on May 15.

The letter warned him not to ignore the recommendation by the House of Representatives to establish an ad hoc Human Right Court to deal with the violations.

The President forwarded the letter to the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry on May 24.

According to head of Kontras’ spokesman Yati Andriyani, the President should have taken direct action to resolve this matter and not just passed it onto the ministry.

“We are very disappointed that the President decided to forward the letter to the ministry and not issue a presidential decree,” said Yati.

“By forwarding the letter, it looks like SBY is trying to avoid the problem. We expect to see a president who obeys the law,” she added.

Mugiyanto said that the President appeared to be unwilling to find the missing victims despite the existence of documents which could assist him in the matter.

 “I don’t think it would be difficult for SBY to find the missing persons as he was one of the members of the Officers Honor Council [DKP] who investigated the Indonesian Military’s Special Forces [Kopassus] members, including Prabowo Subianto, in 1999,” Mugiyanto told The Jakarta Post.

The DKP proved that the abduction of 23 activists was committed by the Kopassus with the help of several military institutions and the police.

In February 1999, 11 Kopasssus soldiers were sentenced to between 12 and 24 months in prison for their alleged roles in the disappearances.

Prabowo Subianto has also admitted that he gave orders to kidnap nine activists after misunderstanding instructions from the operational control.

However, he remains free and has established a political party the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra).

“We hope that during the last moments of his service period, SBY will take concrete action to solve this problem, as we haven’t seen anything done so far,” Yati said.

Nine of the victims were released alive, one victim was found dead, and 13 victims are still missing, including Petrus Bima Anugrah, Herman Hendrawan, Suyat, Wiji Thukul, Yani Afri, Sonny, Dedi Hamdun, Noval Al Katiri, Ismail, Ucok Siahaan, Hendra Hambali, Yadin Muhidin and Abdun Nasser. (nad)