Experts fear whitewashing in new Truth Commission
Experts fear whitewashing in new Truth Commission
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Experts have expressed concern that a planned Truth and
Reconciliation Commission will serve as a legal whitewash of past
gross human rights abuses, allowing perpetrators to avoid
prosecution.
Frans Magnis-Suseno of the Driyakara School of Philosophy told
the House of Representatives commission in charge of deliberating
the bill on truth and reconciliation on Monday that many
perpetrators of past human rights abuses were still in power.
"It is not impossible that they are using their power to
escape being held accountable. The Truth and Reconciliation
Commission must not become an institution to protect them," Frans
Magnis said.
Political analyst J. Kristiadi from the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies expressed similar concerns at a hearing
with the commission last week.
Frans suggested the bill order the planned commission to
divulge the background of all the human rights cases it handled.
Without a clear background and explanation, he said, victims
of human rights abuses would remain victims.
Former National Police chief Gen. (ret) Awaloeddin Djamin,
meanwhile, urged lawmakers to overhaul the government-sponsored
bill, which he said contained numerous flaws.
Awaloeddin said the bill did not clearly define the
perpetrators of conflicts.
Taking the conflicts in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and in Ambon,
Maluku, as examples, Awaloeddin said it was difficult to identify
the perpetrators in these communal conflicts.
He added that finding who was responsible for rights abuses in
a conflict involving the state was also difficult.
"Is it the military soldiers, the police personnel, the
commander or the president?" he asked.
Monday's hearing was also expected to hear from Muslim scholar
Nurcholish "Cak Nur" Madjid, former president Abdurrahman "Gus
Dur" Wahid and journalist Jakob Oetama, but they failed to
appear.
Commission chairman Sidharto Danusubroto said Cak Nur was too
busy with his position as rector of the Paramadina Mulya
University and Jakob was sick.
Gus Dur, meanwhile, asked to delay his meeting with the
commission until Dec. 9.
Awaloeddin also said the nation must restore the good names of
those people jailed without trial following the 1965 abortive
coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party.
He said the President could issue a decree to restore their
names without having to go through a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission.
Earlier, several analysts have expressed doubt that the
commission can help in the process of national reconciliation.
J. Kristiadi from the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies said that the nation could not reach reconciliation
because the perpetrators of human rights abuses remained more
powerful than the victims.
"The current atmosphere is not feasible for reconciliation. If
we insist on forcing reconciliation, it will only create more
problems," he said on the sidelines of a hearing with
legislators.
The bill was mandated by the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR) in a decree issued in 2000.
It is intended to settle human rights violations that have not
been brought to a close by the current legal system.
It is expected that the perpetrators or witnesses testifying
before the commission will apologize to the victims and offer
compensation.