Gus Dur to solicit support for truth seeking committee
Gus Dur to solicit support for truth seeking committee
JAKARTA (JP): Muslim figurehead Abdurrahman Wahid departed for
Germany on Sunday for eye surgery, and to solicit international
support for his planned Commission for Truth-Seeking and National
Reconciliation.
Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, will announce and lead
the commission when he returns on Feb. 25. He told The Jakarta
Post before departure from the Soekarno-Hatta Airport that the
team would comprise 10 international leaders and 25 local ones.
Among the world leaders he planned to invite to sit in the
team were Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Lee Kuan Yew, Oscar Arias
Sanchez and Jimmy Carter.
He also planned to invite domestic figures including
Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, Megawati
Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), former minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Julius
Cardinal Dharmaatmadja of the Indonesian Bishops Council, J.M.
Pattiasina of the Indonesian Communion of Churches, and Dili
Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo.
"Kwik Kian Gie of PDI Perjuangan has stated his wish to join
the team," Gus Dur said.
When asked whether anyone would be invited from the
Muhammadiyah Muslim organization, the chairman of Nadhlatul Ulama
(NU) said "none".
Omar Halim, a former deputy director of the Europe Division of
the Department of Political Affairs of the United Nations, will
be the executive director of the commission. Abdurrahman said
Halim was now working on the details for the establishment and
responsibilities of the commission.
Economist Hartojo Wignjowiyoto will be Abdurrahman's deputy.
Several government officials would also be invited to sit in the
commission, but Abdurrahman declined to name them.
The commission was to be announced after Abdurrahman's return.
"It is not wise to declare it at this time," he said.
He explained the commission was planned to address concerns
for many cases of rights abuse that have gone unsolved for years.
Some were not investigated thoroughly, he said, citing as
examples the Tanjung Priok incident and the military atrocities
in Aceh.
The team, once established, will be tasked with digging out
the truth of the cases and fostering reconciliation among the
parties involved, he said.
He conceded that the public at the moment tended to blame all
violence on the Armed Forces, given its poor record of rights
violations in the past. Passing the blame, however, was not
needed, he said, adding that the important thing was to help all
elements in society settle their grievances peacefully.
"Reconciliation means we admit that those things have happened
but also (take care) that they not fracture our national unity in
the future," he said.
The real goal of the commission, he said, was to ensure that
the violence of the past would not be repeated.
The results of the commission's work would be made public, he
promised.
"Soeharto's case will not be directly discussed by the
commission because it is still recent," he said of the charges of
power abuse leveled by many at the former president.
Abdurrahman left on Sunday with an entourage of 11 people
including his wife Nuriyah, his daughter, his brother and private
doctor Umar Wahid and also his private secretary Al Zastrow Ng.
Abdurrahman will undergo eye surgery at a hospital in Luevuen,
Belgium, his doctor said.
However, the Muslim leader also planned to spend his time
visiting some prominent figures and Indonesian people in Germany,
the Netherlands, and Belgium.
He was scheduled to meet with members of the Germany chamber
of commerce and officials and politicians in the three countries.
He also expressed the hope he would be able to meet with German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. (01)