The Straits Times Interactive, 18 July 1998

JAKARTA -- Five human-rights groups have brought a class action against the Indonesian government, suing it for failing to protect the people during the brutal May riots here which left more than 1,000 dead.

In the suit, filed at a Jakarta court on Thursday, the groups demanded some US$4 billion (S$6.7 billion) in compensation.

Named as the five defendants in the suit were the country's top military commander, General Wiranto, three police chiefs and President B.J. Habibie.

It accused the government of having failed to prevent the violence, maintain security or protect the legal rights of its citizens during and after the riots, which targeted ethnic-Chinese and left whole city blocks burned and looted.

"The government has clearly violated human rights by being unresponsive to what had happened.

"We should not close our eyes to the possibility that the government was responsible for this crime," Mr Hendardi, the head of one of the groups, the Indonesian Human Rights and Legal Institute (PBHI), told a press conference in Jakarta.

The groups say that of the 168 women known to have been gang raped during the two-day rampage, at least 20 were killed or died later of their injuries.

In the lawsuit they demanded that the government pay two and a half trillion rupiah (S$358 million) for material losses and 50 trillion rupiah for non-material losses.

"Material losses were estimated from the official figure for damages caused by looting, burning and ransacking.

"...Non-material losses were rough estimates for deaths, traumatic experiences and lost opportunities," said SNB director Ester Indahyani Yusuf.

The Jakarta Central District Court has 30 days to process the lawsuit.

Lawyer Dwiyanto from PBHI said ousted President Suharto was not named as a defendant because the lawsuit was filed against the government, which is now led by Dr Habibie. AFP