Amnesty granted if victims forgive: House

Amnesty granted if victims forgive: House

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Lawmakers have criticized a stipulation in the bill on the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission, which allows it to recommend the
granting of a presidential pardon for human rights abusers,
despite the fact that they have not been forgiven by their
victims.

The legislators said that human rights violators should only
be pardoned by the president after they and their victims forgive
one another.

The contention on the crucial issue prompted the House of
Representatives to postpone the deliberation of the bill until
next week.

"We want a clear explanation of the stipulation, otherwise it
must be discarded," M. Akil Mochtar, deputy chairman of the House
committee deliberating the bill, said here on Friday.

He said the committee members were worried that the
stipulation could be misused to give or maintain impunity for
perpetrators of human rights abuses.

Moreover, Akil also questioned why the "suspicious
stipulation" was not set out in the articles of the bill, but
only in its explanatory section.

Article 28 of the bill states that the truth commission could
recommend amnesty only after human rights abusers admit their
wrongdoings and their victims forgive them.

But the article does not offer a solution to a situation where
the victims refuse to forgive human rights violators.
Unexpectedly, the bill's explanatory section states that the
perpetrators can be granted amnesty in the absence of forgiveness
from their victims.

The House is expected to finish deliberating the bill on Sept.
7.

Several other bills, scheduled to be passed into law by the
House in its final sitting period, include those on regional
administration, Cabinet ministry, Presidential advisory council,
the 2005 state budget, revisions to the law on foundations, and
free trade zone.

Separately, the House committee deliberating the revision of
Law No. 22/1999 on regional administrations was rushing to
finish. Its members had to stay at a hotel in Central Jakarta to
discuss the bill intensively.

Committee members are optimistic that they will complete the
bill's deliberations before ending their five-year term at the
end of September.

"We continue discussing the bill. God willing, we will finish
the bill as scheduled," said committee member Chozin Chumaidy.

In a related development, the House committee deliberating the
bill on Cabinet ministry and the presidential advisory council
could not begin deliberation because the government has not
appointed ministers to represent it in the discussions.

During a hearing with State Minister for Communication and
Information Syamsul Mu'arif, several legislators urged the
President to appoint ministers to represent the government in the
deliberations of the two bills.

The bills on the Cabinet ministry and the Presidential
advisory council are crucial for the next President elected in
the Sept. 20 runoff as a guideline in forming the Cabinet lineup.

I-box

Key articles in the truth and reconciliation bill
==============================================================
Article 28:
- The Truth and Reconciliation Commission can issue a
recommendation that the President grant amnesty to human rights
abusers only after they admit their wrongdoings and their victims
forgive them.
- It must be followed by exposing the truth about the abuses.
==============================================================
Source: House special committee