Govt cannot wash its hands of missing people

Govt cannot wash its hands of missing people

The fate of several missing people, most of whom are
government critics and student activists, remains a mystery, even
though some disappeared a year ago. Corporate lawyer and human
rights activist Mulya Lubis shares his view on what should be
done.

JAKARTA (JP): Reports of missing people are nothing new in our
history. Since its infancy, the republic has been rife with
stories about people who are missing, killed, imprisoned or even
kidnapped.

The fate of a few of these people eventually came to light,
such as Amir Sjarifudin, an independence fighter who was
reportedly kidnapped and killed. But the circumstances of his
death are still cloaked in mystery.

In the mid-1960s, an untold number of people reportedly
disappeared due to the ideological disputes which surfaced in the
turmoil after Sukarno's downfall. No definitive figures exist on
the number who were killed or went missing.

From a human rights viewpoint, however, disappearances of
people caught in ideological disputes and a power struggle should
never happen.

A criminal suspect must be tried and punished. He must not be
exempted from trial or allowed to disappear into the woodwork.
The human rights perspective argues that "no circumstances
whatsoever, whether a threat of war, a state of war, internal
political instability or any public emergency, may be invoked to
justify enforced disappearances" (Article 7 of the UN Declaration
on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances).

But tales of missing people persist. The "mysterious killings"
of the early 1980s, with reported deaths of many hoodlums, remain
fresh in our memories.

There were also the Tanjung Priok and Lampung incidents, in
which many were reported missing and their whereabouts remain
unknown to this day.

In more recent times, when the Jakarta headquarters of the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) was attacked on July 27, 1996,
many were also reported missing, spirited away to God knows
where.

Now, names of students activists and prodemocracy campaigners
rank among those who have disappeared in mysterious circumstances
in recent months.

As usual, no party has claimed responsibility. This is because
any acknowledgement of responsibility would wipe away the mystery
which is created, namely that missing people are clumped under
the nebulous but pivotal term of the "missing". Thus, they cannot
be identified as "forced disappearances", a category of crime
condemned by international human rights institutions and the
United Nations.

Among those who reacted to the reports was the commander of
the Diponegoro Military Command of Central Java, who angrily
dismissed suggestions that security agents may have had a role in
the disappearances.

His attitude is understandable; Article 1 of the UN
Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearances stipulates that "no state shall practice, permit
or tolerate enforced disappearances".

Hence, the state assumes heavy responsibilities and
obligations because it can neither cause people to disappear nor
tolerate disappearances.

It follows that it is the duty of the state and its
apparatuses to guarantee the safety of all citizens, and also to
free the people from the forbidding possibility of disappearing
or being forced to disappear.

In a state based on law, it is an absolute necessity that all
citizens and residents live without the threat of going missing
or having to live in hiding.

Which does not in any way mean that people are untouchable and
unpunishable by the law for their criminal offenses. Instead, it
means that a court of law would fairly and legally try and punish
them. This is the essence of a law-upholding state.

Thus, the state must do its utmost to maintain security and
order. In the event of reports of missing people, the state and
its apparatuses, civilian and military, have the obligation to
look for the missing people and punish those responsible.

It follows that if any members of the state apparatus made
(dader) or helped to make (mede dader) people disappear, they
must be held legally accountable for their actions.

No lawful state can simply wash its hands of the matter by
declaring its apparatuses are not involved.

It must be realized that the foundation of a law-upholding
state is the responsibility the state assumes over the safety and
security of its citizens and residents.

Unless cases of missing people are handled seriously, people
will lose faith in the integrity of a state which professes to
champion the law.