Aceh rights tribunal to skip past cases: Govt

Aceh rights tribunal to skip past cases: Govt

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have agreed to
only bring human rights violations cases in Aceh to court that
occur after the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on
Monday.

Indonesian chief negotiator Hamid Awaluddin, who is Minister
of Justice and Human Rights, said on Friday that using
retroactive principles when setting up a human rights tribunal in
the province would open old wounds and disrupt the peace-building
process.

"If we keep looking back to the past, we will continue to
blame each other and there would be no end to it; there would be
no peace in Aceh. So, we have decided to look forward," he said.

The government, he said, was making the decision in line with
1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as
well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, which will be ratified this year.

Hamid's statement came after the coordinator of the Commission
on Missing People and the Victims of Violence (Kontras) Usman
Hamid said settling all past atrocities carried out in Aceh was
necessary to build a lasting peace in the province.

The MOU agreement signed in Helsinki orders the settlement of
human rights violations through a human rights tribunal.

"The government officials have been interpreting this point
wrongly. As the only country in the world with national human
rights court, there is the possibility of trying past violations,
or using retroactive principles," Usman said on Friday as quoted
by Antara.

Retroactivity, he reminded, was adopted in human rights
tribunals in Nuremberg, Tokyo, Yugoslavia and Rwanda, as well as
crimes against humanity in East Timor.

Hamid, however, said the government should not worry about
trying those responsible for past human rights violations in
Aceh, as those trials would likely implicate both Aceh rebels and
soldiers.

Most cases brought to the country's ad hoc human rights court
since its inception in 2002 have involved soldiers.

Usman said that the MOU did not elaborate the point about the
human rights tribunal, therefore the government should refer to
the existing law on human rights, the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, and the law on the human rights tribunal.

Domestic and international rights activists have long pointed
to human rights violations in Aceh, particularly when the
province fell under a special military operation between 1989 and
1998.

No alleged rights abuses occurring in Aceh have ever been
settled.

Retroactivity in trying cases, meanwhile, can only be adopted
upon approval from the House of Representatives.

Hamid said while the MOU might not be perfect, it had already
succeeded in creating peace in Aceh, where around 15,000 people
have died since the armed rebellion began in 1976.

"We have managed to maintain our basic positions, that is to
sustain the unitary state of Indonesia, the Constitution and
Aceh's status as part of the country," Hamid said.

The Constitution, he said, was clearly stated in the second
paragraph of the MOU.

Critics have said the contents of the MOU were flawed and open
to interpretation. They pointed to the absence of GAM's
acknowledgement of the 1945 Constitution, the use of the term
"Aceh government", and the authority of an Aceh council from whom
the House of Representatives must seek agreement on Aceh issues.
Those privileges, they said, might end up leading to Aceh
separating from the country.

Countering, Hamid said the term for the Aceh government and
the high authority of Aceh Council were nothing new, as had been
earlier laid out in the Law No. 32/2004 on regional autonomy.

"It doesn't mean that House of Representatives must bow to the
Aceh Council. In regard to international agreements, for
instance, legislators do not need to seek agreement from Aceh
councillors."

The same went for the province's hymn and flag, which were
cultural symbols and Aceh, like other provinces, could not borrow
money offshore unless it had approval from the Ministry of
Finance, Hamid said.