House Of Representatives Commission XIII: 3 People Disappear During The End Of August Demonstration Must Be Returned To Their Homes

Illustration of the DPR Building of the MPR Senayan Jakarta. (Between)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission XIII of the House of Representatives Andreas Hugo Pareira, responded to a statement by the Minister of Human Rights (HAM) Natalius Pigai who refused to name three people whose whereabouts were unknown after the demonstration at the end of last August as missing persons. Andreas said that whatever the term is, the three people who have not returned to their respective homes must be found immediately.

"Yes, whatever the term is, the important thing is to find back and return it to his family. I think that's the most important thing. Regarding definition, about people missing, but this person is not in his place. That's the most important thing, that we return this person," Andreas said at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday, September 17.

"And the task of the state is to return it to its family, return it to the place where it came from. That's the most important thing. And find out that's the task of the country."

If it is said that the three missing people are easy to find by simply looking at CCTV, then Andreas asks the authorities to immediately search.

"If it's easy, it must be carried out," he said.

Andreas said, if the three people were not 'disappeared' then the fact-finding team could easily find their whereabouts.

"We are sure that if the person is in the pick mark, yes, it will not be removed in a more tragic sense, he should be able to return. So that's where I think certainty is needed and the fact-finding team is implementing it. We have to finish this faster," he concluded.

Previously, Human Rights Minister (HAM) Natalius Pigai asked the public not to rush to conclude that the three people whose whereabouts were unknown after the demonstration at the end of last August were missing. According to him, there is a possibility that the three people were hiding out of panic.

"Just wait. It means like this, in an atmosphere of panic, people like to hide themselves, then certain people declare them missing. It's too early to declare the person missing," Pigai said at the Royal Kuningan Hotel after the agenda for discussing 'DIM and Draft Amendments to Law 39/1999', Jakarta, Tuesday, September 17.

Pigai said the Ministry of Human Rights had formed a team to follow up on three people whose whereabouts were not yet known.

"Maybe we kept ourselves away. We don't know, the three people who were declared invisible. If I use it haven't been seen, my language is not lost, but it hasn't been seen. Or they haven't returned home yet," he said.