This festering wound<\/p>\n
The objection aired by the Indonesian police and military
\nfaction in the House of Representatives to having the truth
\nbehind the many human rights abuses of the past revealed is
\ncertainly more than a bit disconcerting. It is especially painful
\nto have to learn of that objection on this particular day -- May
\n12 -- which is the day when, exactly five years ago, cold-blooded
\nsnipers shot to death four Trisakti University students inside
\ntheir campus in West Jakarta, thereby triggering some of the most
\nvicious, bloodiest riots this nation has seen in its relatively
\nbrief history.<\/p>\n
Five years have passed. But it cannot be far off the truth to
\nsay that the image of what happened in front of the university on
\nthat day, May 12 1998, will remain forever seared in the memory
\nof those who have seen the television footage of that brutal
\nshooting. As thousands of students milled about in front of the
\ncampus, yelling anti-government slogans and taunting the troops,
\nsoldiers in full battle dress were standing high above on a
\nnearby overpass, rifles at the ready. The Asian economic crisis
\nwas at its peak and Indonesia's economy was in a shambles.
\nStudents all over the country were clamoring for political and
\neconomic reform but despite all the clamor, the May 12
\ndemonstration was peaceful.<\/p>\n
Then, as the students were starting to withdraw and began to
\nmove back into their campus, a single shot rang out, followed by
\nmore. One student fell just as he had reached the campus grounds.
\nMore shots followed and more students fell. In all, four Trisakti
\nstudents died on that day. But that was only the beginning of a
\nnational tragedy that was to take thousands of lives in the next
\ncouple of days and caused unmentionable grief to thousands of
\nindividuals and their families.<\/p>\n
The reason for the students' protest has always been clear: It
\nwas the oppressive character of President Soeharto's dictatorial
\nNew Order administration that finally led to the nation's
\neconomic and financial bankruptcy through mismanagement and
\nunbridled corruption. But who fired the shots that felled the
\nfour students, and at whose orders were they fired? Why were the
\nstudents killed while they were already back inside their campus?
\nWas it all part of a plotters' plan to lure the students out into
\nthe street and provoke violence so that they could be blamed and
\ntheir protest movement crushed once and for all -- as some
\nobservers have suggested?<\/p>\n
Those are among the questions that have never been
\nsatisfactorily answered. True, a number of junior officers have
\nbeen given light prison sentences, but the much more important
\nquestion of who or what was behind the May 14 and successive
\nincidents still remains unanswered, five years after the event.
\nIt is little wonder the wounds the incident has left have
\ncontinued to fester for all those years. That is why reformers
\nand legislators have been calling for a truth and reconciliation
\ncommission after the South African model.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately -- although perhaps not very surprisingly -- the
\nmilitary\/police faction in the House of Representatives has
\nvoiced its opposition to the use of the word \"truth\" in the draft
\nbill to set up such a commission, warning that any attempts to
\nreveal the actual truth would only lead the nation down the path
\nto new conflicts. \"Finding out the truth will require a trial in
\ncourt, with all the impact (of this),\" the faction's spokesman,
\nMaj. Gen. Djasri Marin, warned.<\/p>\n
More pathetically, only 20 out of the House's 50 committee
\nmembers for the bill's deliberation in the House turned up during
\nthe debate. It seems that with the passage of time, interest in
\nfinding out the truth behind many of the human rights violations
\nof the past seems to be waning. It seems that not all of the
\npeople's representatives in the national legislature share the
\nopinion of the Reform Faction's Mashadi, that any future truth
\nand reconciliation commission must clearly reveal the truth as
\nwell as the people held ultimately responsible for those rights
\nviolations.<\/p>\n
Whatever the case, the road to getting at the truth for the
\nsake of reconciliation must be kept open. To achieve that will be
\none of the important tasks for the incoming government and
\nlegislature to accomplish. Unless that can be accomplished and
\nexisting discontents resolved, the danger of festering old wounds
\nbursting open in the future is far from imaginary.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/this-festering-wound-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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