Adding insult to injury: Will the victims of

Justice for Tanjung Priok victims

Farish A Noor, Sinchew Daily, Asia News Network, Selangor

Despite the talk of reform and restoration of democracy, the history of Indonesia remains a highly contested subject that remains hostage to the vicissitudes of realpolitik.

Gone are the days of euphoria when the longest self-serving dictator of Southeast Asia was forced out of office in May 1998. Then, it was the mass reformasi movement spearheaded by the country's students and civil society that finally forced the hand of the ruling clique that had been in power for more than three decades.

Indonesians, and the people of ASEAN, clamored for justice and waited nervously for the day that their erstwhile leader would be hauled into court for numerous charges of human rights abuse, corruption, nepotism and abuse of power.

But the joy was not destined to last. Almost immediately after the fall of Soeharto came a succession of floundering governments that could not muster the political will to do the necessary thing: Enforce the law impartially and put on trial those who had rode roughshod over the system for years.

The trial of Soeharto turned out to be a farce in every way, culminating in the less than decorous conclusion that the country's authoritarian leader could not be made to stand trial for the flimsy reason that he was no longer well and that his memory was failing him.

Then came the half-hearted attempts to bring before the law the coterie of generals, colonels and senior officers of the old regime who had served Soeharto dutifully and whose commands were directly responsible for the atrocious human rights abuses that took place in places like Aceh, Lampung, Irian and East Timor.

Slowly but surely, the military elite of the old order closed ranks -- as soldiers are wont to do -- and stood firm. The most notorious commanders of the old regime, men like Generals Benny Moerdani, Hendropriyono, et al. were not only acquitted of their charges -- often on grounds of "lack of evidence" -- and for some of them the post-Soeharto era turned out to be a second opportunity to stage a political comeback.

Gen. Hedropriyono, once dubbed "the Butcher of Lampung" was even elevated to the post of head of anti-terror operations by none other than former President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The acid test, however, was the trial of the officers and men who were accused of masterminding what has come to be known as the Tanjung Priok massacre of 1984.

The Tanjung Priok incident was important for a number of reasons. For a start, it was the catalyst that sparked the open war between the Soeharto regime and the rising tide of political Islam in the country: The killings at Tanjung Priok were the result of the Indonesian army being asked to put down a Muslim activists -- demonstration in a quarter of the nation's capital, and it ultimately led to the killing of dozens of Muslims in broad daylight.

Secondly, Tanjung Priok has a special place in the collective consciousness of the Indonesian urban political, media and cultural elite for the simple reason that this was an instance of outright violence perpetrated by the state's own armed forces right in the heart of the nation's capital.

For years the liberal elite of Jakarta could wish away the stories of brutal attacks, random killings and death squads roaming the countryside of Aceh, Irian or East Timor: But Tanjung Priok brought home to them the very real violent and destructive potential of the Indonesian army, right before their very eyes.

For these reasons, many human rights activists and civil society actors in Indonesia had hoped that the trial of the officers and men involved in the Tanjung Priok incident would be different, and would register a genuine shift from the politicized trials of the recent past. They were wrong.

Despite the mass publicity given to the trial and the presence of scores of international observers and legal advisors, the commander of the Kopassus special unit responsible for the killings, Maj. Gen. Sriyanto Muntrasan, was found not guilty last year.

Then came the equally devastating news this week that the twelve soldiers initially found guilty for the killings at Tanjung Prior were also acquitted on the same grounds of lack of evidence.

Human rights activists and the families and friends of the victims of the massacre have expressed disbelief at the recent turn of events. While it was the norm for senior officers to be let off the hook during the Soeharto era, many had expected things to change a little in the present "democratic climate." That even the soldiers were found not guilty has sent out a simple, though chilling message: The army is not for turning and the armed forces of Indonesia are once again above the law.

That such developments have gained little attention elsewhere in the world is hardly surprising. Following the disastrous performance of the governments of Habibie, Megawati and Abdurrahman Wahid, the neighboring governments of ASEAN and Australia wish to see an Indonesia that is stable -- at any price.

The election of general-turned-President Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono has been greeted warmly by the country's regional allies and Big Brother USA, who has always been close at hand to see that Indonesia maintains its present course as part of the "war on terror" roadshow.

While the Tanjung Priok incident was used again and again by the governments of the West to apply diplomatic pressure on Indonesia in the 1980s and 1990s, it would appear that the very same Western governments are now prepared to turn a blind eye as Indonesia's present military-business-political elite erase the country's sordid past for the sake of domestic political necessity.

And so once again the relatives and friends of those killed at Tanjung Priok ask: When will justice be theirs?