Clear definition sought on role of truth commission

Clear definition sought on role of truth commission

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Lawmakers deliberating the bill on truth and reconciliation were
urged on Tuesday to clearly define gross human rights violations
to ensure that the proposed truth and reconciliation commission
would help strengthen national unity.

Speaking during a hearing with the House committee charged
with deliberating the bill, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
Wirayuda and Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said a clear
definition of gross human rights violations would help bring
about reconciliation.

Hassan also suggested that lawmakers clearly define the
ultimate objective of establishing the truth and reconciliation
commission.

"Gross violations of human rights can be one cause of national
disintegration. Therefore, the ultimate goal of the truth and
reconciliation commission must be to maintain national
integration," he said.

The two ministers had been invited to give their opinions on
the bill, which will serve as the legal basis for the setting up
of the truth and reconciliation commission.

Hassan said that legislators should also determine which human
rights abuses could be brought before the truth and
reconciliation commission.

Hari Sabarno, meanwhile, said that without clear regulations
the public might feel that all types of legal violations could be
brought before the commission.

"And this would result in overlapping between the role of the
planned commission and that of the National Commission on Human
Rights," he said.

Hassan concurred with Hari, saying that the truth and
reconciliation commission must be set up with a specific brief to
handle clearly defined cases.

Taking Argentina as an example, he said a similar commission
in that country, called the National Commission on the
Disappeared, had the specific task of investigating widespread
disappearances that were blamed on the security forces.

The idea of setting up a truth and reconciliation commission
emerged shortly after the downfall of Soeharto's repressive
administration in 1998.

Political expert Ikrar Nusa Bhakti and human rights activists
Munarman and Robertus Robert on Monday urged the government to
end "state-sponsored discrimination against Chinese-Indonesians
and the relatives of suspected communist party members."

The chairman of the House committee charged with deliberating
the bill, Sidharto Danusubroto, disclosed on Tuesday that his
committee planned to listen to the views of about 60 institutions
over the course of two months.

He said he hoped that the opinions put forward by these
institutions would help improve the substance of the bill.

Although Sidharto stressed the importance of the bill, the
committee meeting on Tuesday was attended by only 16 of the
committee's 50 members.

Home minister Hari had to interrupt his presentation to answer
a phone call from President Megawati Soekarnoputri.