Buru case 'must be reconciled'

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A historian is calling for the establishment of a rights tribunal to look into the forcible exile of alleged members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) to Buru island in Maluku from 1969 to 1979.

Asvi Warman Adam of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said the government arbitrarily rounded up and sent into exile on Buru island suspected PKI members.

"The case is very clear. Those who committed the imprisonment are clear. Some of them are still alive, so are the victims. We also have many documents," he told reporters after a discussion on Tuesday.

According to Asvi, the so-called Buru Island Resettlement Executor Body was responsible for the arbitrary imprisonment of some 10,000 suspected PKI members.

The body, he said, was set up by the Attorney General's Office, which implemented the orders of the now-defunct Internal Security Agency. According to the line of command, Asvi said, the Internal Security Agency was directly under the authority of former president Soeharto.

The government originally sent political prisoners suspected of involvement in the 1965 abortive coup d'etat to Buru.

Later, the government also imprisoned and exiled children and wives of political prisoners to Buru, which was not designed as a prison island. Many of them died of malaria and malnutrition.

"I assert once more that the Buru island case is very appropriate for settlement by a rights tribunal. The suspects, victims, crime location and time when it happened are clear," Asvi said.

He considers the Buru island case the last part of a trilogy of tragedy. He said the tragedy began with the murder of six generals, two middle-ranking officials and a soldier on Oct. 1, 1965, by military members, who were later accused of having been influenced by the PKI.

The killings were followed by waves of bloody raids by the military and military-backed groups on PKI members and accused PKI members from 1965 to 1966. Over 500,000 people are believed to have been killed in the violence.

Asvi said the violence from 1965 to 1966 should be looked at by a proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission due to the large number of victims involved.

Heru Atmodjo, a former Air Force intelligence deputy chief who was imprisoned on Buru for 15 years, said he and other victims did not expect the perpetrators to be convicted.

"We actually expect them to admit their wrongdoing, as we have already forgiven them. That's all," he said.

Masdar Mas'ud, a deputy chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, said reconciliation was necessary to prevent similar incidents taking place in the future.

"We are ready to facilitate it (reconciliation)," he said.

The House of Representatives has endorsed a bill on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The commission is to be formed no later than six months after the bill is signed into law, or after being approved by the House, if the president refuses to sign it.

The settlement of human rights cases through the commission is aimed at ending hatred and hostility among communities. However, activists have raised concern the commission will only serve to whitewash rights violations.