Government to submit two rights bills to House

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Tuesday the government would submit two separate bills to the House of Representatives in the third week of March to help bring a closure to past human rights abuses in the country.

The minister said that a bill on the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission would be submitted together with a new bill on a human rights tribunal.

"We are expecting that on March 13 the House will reject Government Regulation No.1/1999 on a human rights tribunal, so we can withdraw it and submit the new bills a week later," he announced.

The government is in the final stages of drafting a new bill on a rights tribunal to address the weaknesses of the previously submitted regulation, which was drafted during the tenure of former president B.J. Habibie.

In particular the new bill would apply a retroactive clause and contain articles in which perpetrators could be tried for "omission".

Speaking after a hearing with House Commission II for law and home affairs, Yusril said the bill on a truth and reconciliation commission was to anticipate cases which could not be judicially resolved through the proposed rights tribunal.

The idea to set up a commission began to gain serious attention last year after the new era of openness suddenly unveiled a slew of allegations of rights abuses throughout the country.

In December, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) also stressed the importance of such a commission to resolve rights cases as the country was judicially ill-equipped to resolve and reconcile these cases.

Non-governmental organizations and Komnas HAM had referred to South Africa's commission as a model to emulate.

Yusril warned that if the country did not have a sufficient mechanism with which to handle the long dark list of alleged abuses occurring throughout the country's history, these cases could become a potential dilemma which could spark public discontent.

"Such a possibility could cause a major political setback. That's why, in order to answer the public's demand, we have drafted the bill," Yusril said, adding that the proposed commission could also help reconcile conflicting parties to avoid retaliatory action stemming from past conflict.

"But there is always the possibility that if the commission can come up with new evidence, an old case could be brought back to the human rights tribunal," Yusril said. (04)