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From owner-indonesia-p@indopubs.com Thu Feb 26 19:48:12 1998
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 17:47:24 -0700 (MST)
Message-Id: <199802270047.RAA06681@indopubs.com>
To: apakabar@clark.net
From: indonesia-p@indopubs.com
Subject: [INDONESIA-P] KMP - LBH Palembang Offices Pelted with Stones
Sender: owner-indonesia-p@indopubs.com
Kompas Online
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Friday, 27 February 1998
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LBH Offices in Palembang Pelted With Stones
Palembang, Kompas Online
The LBH (Institute for Legal Aid) regional offices in Palembang were
attacked at 1 PM today (26/2) by a group of unknown assailants. Stones
and bottles of beer were thrown, causing some damage to the
facilities, mostly broken windows. The LBH's director in Palembang
told Kompas that " LBH in Palembang has been releasing very critical
statements about the locality's record on human rights, democracy, the
environment and politics in general." He added that "We don't know who
is responsible for today's attack but there is no doubt that it comes
in the wake of our activities. It could well be that it is someone who
was angered by a recent court ruling in a case brought forward by
LBH."
Two LBH employees in Palembang see a link between today's events and
the covert terror tactics that have been occurring over the past two
weeks. For instance, last week someone dumped trash and human faeces
in the LBH front yard. Only a couple of days ago a dead rat inside a
plastic bag was thrown against a window on the ground floor. When
asked why the LBH had not reported these events to the police, the LBH
employees said they did not think the problems were serious enough to
warrant a police report.
YLBHI Under Watch
Meanwhile, the YLBHI's headquarters in Jakarta are being guarded by
the police in full riot gear. Several trucks were parked in the
vicinity of the YLBHI offices. The chairman of YLBHI's board of
advisors, Bambang Widjojanto, was asked by reporters to confirm
whether this concentration of police forces could be linked to the
fact that members of the Partai Demokrasi Indonesia (PDI) and the
outlawed trade-union SBSI have recently sought refuge and protection
at the YLBHI's headquarters. "They came into our offices because they
believe they have been put under surveillance by the authorities,"
said Widjojanto. "I don't know what their intentions are, whether they
are thinking of staging a demonstration. What is certain, is that
there is an increasing concentration of security forces outside our
offices."
According to a lawyer working for the YLBHI, they tried to discuss the
situation with those people who alleged to be members of the security
forces, but the latter refused to show their identifications and hence
the lawyers decided to stop the talks. In response, the security
forces decided to retreat from the immediate vicinity of the YLBHI
offices.(*)