House ends debate on truth commission

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The House of Representatives (DPR) and the government wrapped up on Monday their deliberations on the truth and reconciliation commission bill following a half-hour, closed-door meeting attended by faction leaders in the House.

"We shall submit a final draft to a plenary meeting scheduled for Sept. 7," committee deputy chairman M. Akil Mochtar of Golkar told the media after the meeting attended by 19 of 50 members of the House special committee deliberating the bill.

The closed-door meeting discussed conditions that must be met before the truth and reconciliation commission would recommend an amnesty for perpetrators of human rights abuses.

After a half-hour talk, the lawmakers agreed to insert some clauses into Article 29 of the bill.

As amended, it says that if victims of rights abuses refuse to forgive suspected violators, the commission may make a recommendation based on its own considerations.

In a situation where perpetrators refuse to admit their wrongdoing, they will not be given amnesty and will be brought before the ad hoc human right court.

Previously, the bill only provided a solution in a situation where victims forgave human rights violators.

Article 28 box below says 29 of the bill states that the truth commission can recommend amnesty only after human right abusers admit their wrongdoing and their victims forgive them.

However, the article does not offer a solution in a situation where victims refuse to forgive their abusers.

"This is the best outcome we can achieve," said Soewarno, spokesman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction.

Soewarno added that his faction fully welcomed finalization of the long-awaited bill.

Meanwhile, Nyoman Suwisma, spokesman of the Indonesian Military/Police faction, said that the bill's endorsement would not create problems for the nation.

In addition, National Awakening Party (PKB) spokesman Muhidin suggested that the government would disseminate information on the bill before establishing the reconciliation commission.

"The selection of commission members should be carried out professionally," he said.

According to the bill, the President should form a selection committee consisting of five members, two of whom are government officials, with three others drawn from the public.

The committee then submits the names of 42 candidates to the President who later selects 21 and submits them to the House for approval.

The commission would work for five years with the possibility of a two-year extension.

Key Articles

Article 29:

(1) In a situation where human right violators and their victims forgive one another, the commission must recommend an amnesty.

(2) In a situation where human right violators admit facts and regret their wrongdoing but their victims refuse to forgive them, the commission can make recommendations based on its own considerations.

(3) In a situation where human right violators refuse to admit wrongdoing, they will not receive amnesty and will be brought before the ad hoc court.

Article 43: Gross human right violations settled by the commission cannot be brought before the ad hoc human rights court.

Source: House special committee