Right body wants judicial power<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has called
\nfor a revision of human rights Law No.39\/1999, to empower it with
\nthe right to press state institutions to follow up on the
\nfindings of its investigations.<\/p>\n
Komnas HAM Chairman Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara complained on
\nTuesday that some of the commission's findings were not followed
\nup on by state institutions, rendering its investigations
\nuseless.<\/p>\n
\"The commission must be given the right to file lawsuits
\nagainst institutions that do not follow up on its findings. We
\npropose that the law be revised,\" Abdul Hakim said on the
\nsidelines of a hearing with the House's Commission III for law
\nand legislation, human rights and security affairs here on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
He also asked the House of Representatives (DPR) to carry out
\na performance audit aimed at assessing the work of the commission
\nand other state institutions -- including the National Police and
\nthe Attorney General's Office (AGO) -- which have received
\nrecommendations from the commission but failed to follow up on
\nthem.<\/p>\n
\"Such an audit would verify whether the commission and the AGO
\nhave carried out their respective duties properly. Then, we will
\nknow the problem,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Taking the cases as examples, Abdul Hakim said that the
\ncommission had declared the Trisakti shootings and May 1998
\nriots, as well as the bloody incidents of Semanggi I and Semanggi
\nII in 1999, as gross violations of human rights.<\/p>\n
The national commission had recommended that the AGO follow up
\non its findings, which it has not done to this day.<\/p>\n
Abdul Hakim said the AGO has refused to talk about the
\ncommission's recommendations.<\/p>\n
The AGO declined to follow up on the commission's findings on
\nthe grounds that the House had declared the incidents \"ordinary
\nhuman rights violations\".<\/p>\n
During a hearing with the commission earlier, legislators
\npromised to reopen those cases.<\/p>\n
Trimedya Panjaitan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI-P) said, during Tuesday's hearing, that the House
\ncould be held accountable for the uncertain legal process of the
\nhuman rights violation cases.<\/p>\n
\"The legislators are morally accountable, because they
\ndeclared those incidents to be ordinary violations,\" Trimedya
\nsaid, referring to the House's investigation led by Panda
\nNababan, a fellow legislator from the PDI-P.<\/p>\n
Alluding to public demand for an investigation into human
\nrights violations allegedly involving Soeharto, he said that most
\ncases of rights violations had been handled by the police.<\/p>\n
The July 27 case has been handled by police, while the Tanjung
\nPriok case has been taken to court, but rights cases allegedly
\ninvolving Soeharto, including the mysterious shooting (Petrus) in
\nthe 1980s and the Buru case -- which saw hundreds of people
\nlinked to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) jailed without
\ntrial -- have not been investigated.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/right-body-wants-judicial-power-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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