[Lateline News (lateline.muzi.net): 8/7/98] BEIJING - Chinas official womens organisation has condemned Indonesian violence against ethnic Chinese, the Peoples Daily reported on Friday. ``Anyone with a conscience will not tolerate these grave, barbaric and criminal infringements against womens rights,'' the newspaper quoted the All-China Womens Federation as saying. ``We strongly call upon the Indonesian government to face the facts, quickly adopt effective measures, thoroughly investigate the matter, sternly punish the offenders and uphold justice for victimised Chinese women,'' the group was quoted as saying. The terse statement repeats similar words by Chinas government printed earlier this week on the front page of the same newspaper, the Communist Partys official mouthpiece. Ethnic Chinese were the target of racially motivated attacks during riots in Indonesia last May. About 1,200 people were killed, and more than 150 women raped, Indonesian human rights groups have said. China first broke its silence on the plight of Indonesias ethnic Chinese in mid-July, when the foreign ministry called on Jakarta to investigate the reported atrocities. Since then, official statements have grown stronger in tone, despite Chinas public pledge never to ``interfere'' in other nations ``internal affairs.'' Beijing routinely rejects outside criticism of its own stance against political protest by secession-minded minorities in Buddhist Tibet and Moslem Xinjiang. The Indonesian violence, which culminated with the end of former President Suhartos 32-year reign, saw the destruction of thousands of shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent. Many ethnic Chinese women were also reportedly raped in the May 13-15 chaos. Indonesian President B.J. Habibie had called the attacks ``the most inhuman event in the history of the nation'' and pledged they would be thoroughly investigated. =========================================================================== /`\ /`\ RABBIT INFORMATION SERVICE: _ _ (/\ \-/ /\) P.O.Box 30, Riverton, Western Australia 6148 (.\_/.) )6 6( http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm \6 6/ >{= Y =}< VEGETARIAN PAGE =\ /= /'-^-'\ http://www.geocities/RainForest/4620 /O\ / (_) (_) / \ ( | . | U U ) | |} Pity the human race its illusion of permanence (| |)/ \_/^\_/ w'-'w ===========================================================================
