Bill on Truth, Reconciliation drafted

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has drafted a bill to deal with past human rights abuses committed during both the Sukarno and Soeharto regimes, offering pardons to the suspects who are ready to be reconciled with their victims and pay them compensation.

The draft bill on the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) stipulates that human rights abusers must confess all their wrongdoings to achieve an amnesty.

At the same time, suspects have the right to rehabilitate their image and good name.

Apart from the mechanism, the government will also resolve certain human rights cases through ad hoc courts, which will try the cases of atrocities that are not settled by the commission.

Under the bill, suspects and victims are free to decide to choose which of the two mechanisms they want to use to resolve their cases.

Romli Atmasasmita, director general for legal administrative affairs at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, said the settlement of human rights cases through the TRC is aimed at ending hatred and hostility among the communities.

However, he stressed that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission would not serve as an "impunity institution", arguing that all the mechanisms used to find a solution would be conducted in a transparent manner.

"A decision would be taken after the commission listens to all related parties and the process made transparent," Romli, who is also a lecturer at Bandung-based Padjadjaran University, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The bill stipulates that reconciliation must be outlined in a written agreement signed by the suspects and the victims, or their heirs, as well as the TRC.

Under the bill, the commission is authorized to deal with all human rights abuses that took place between 1945 and 1966 (Sukarno's era) and between 1966 and 1988 (Soeharto's era), ranging from killings blamed on the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) to atrocities in Irian Jaya, Aceh and East Timor.

The TRC is manned by 15 members who will be selected by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) for approval by the president and the House of Representatives.

Romli said credibility is the prime criteria in selecting the members who will represent all elements within society.

He said his ministry had handed over the bill to the State Secretariat, which is to be submitted to the House in the near future for endorsement.

However, he could not specify the date, saying, "The sooner the bill is passed into law, the better we can speed up our effort to resolve the human rights abuses that have posed a heavy burden for the government," Romli said.