Govt to submit 'strong' rights tribunal bill

By Budiman Moerdijat

JAKARTA (JP): A group of legal experts is putting the final touches to a new bill which could provide the key legal instrument to try Gen. Wiranto for human rights abuses in East Timor.

Key points of the new bill, which could be submitted to the House of Representatives before the end of the month, include a retroactive clause allowing it to be used as the basis for trying rights violations occurring before the date of the bill's final ratification.

The bill includes an article which can snare even those who aided and abetted human rights violations.

Both these two points were deficient in previous Indonesian laws, and could provide a crucial legal basis if convictions were ever sought on senior officials or officers who were not immediately present at the scene but were regarded as responsible for rights violations.

Human rights activist Munir revealed that he had been part of a small team of experts helping to fine-tune the draft bill since late last year.

"The bill is quite progressive and I hope it will be able to break the cycle of impunity in this country," Munir said of the bill which, as it currently stands, has 38 articles.

"The bill, if it is endorsed by the House of Representatives, will not only be able to try those who are directly involved in human rights violations, but also those who allow the violations to take place," he added.

The experts assisting in the drafting of the bill include National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) chairman Djoko Soegianto, commission members Benjamin Mangkoedilaga and Soelistyowati Soegondo, former justice minister Muladi and prominent defense lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution.

While the bill is designed to encompass all rights violations, the two new elements in the new bill directly address defense arguments being used by Wiranto's lawyers to argue his innocence following Monday's recommendations by the government-sanctioned National Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) in East Timor which said the former military chief and other senior officers should be investigated.

Attorney General Marzuki Darusman has said it would take three months to decide whether to file charges.

Skeptics initially questioned the time frame as the government does not have the necessary legal instruments which could make such a court conviction.

A human rights tribunal bill drafted by then minister of justice Muladi which was already submitted to the House last year is considered by many as insufficient as cases prior to the bill's ratification would be tried under the criminal code which only recognizes individual and not collective responsibility.

While it has yet to be officially rejected, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung has said he will rebuff the bill drafted by Muladi.

In a strange twist, however, Muladi and Adnan Buyung Nasution are spearheading the defense team for Wiranto and other top military brass in the issue.

Munir said Buyung, during meetings to draft the new bill, strongly rejected articles which extended the scope of responsibility for human rights crimes.

Buyung contended that only those who had "directly and physically" committed the crime should be held responsible.

Article 34 of the bill, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post on Thursday, stipulates that "every person who allows" human rights violations is liable to face the same possible punishment as those who directly commit violations.

This particular article, in essence, emulates Article 6 of the Statute of the International Tribunal for Rwanda which was adopted by the United Nations in 1994.

The new Indonesian bill varies punishment from four years to life imprisonment.

Before it is finally submitted to the House, the new bill will likely undergo some minor editorial adjustments at the Ministry of Law and Legislation.

While there seems to be agreement that the bill would be retroactive, the exact period remains debatable. Some have suggested a period of 15 years while others noted that the term should not be defined as it would merely create more controversy.