House may reopen Trisakti, Semanggi shooting incidents

House may reopen Trisakti, Semanggi shooting incidents

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives (DPR) has announced that it would
likely look into all documents relating to the three Trisakti and
the Semanggi incidents in 1998 and in 1999 to reopen the cases
after increasing pressure from the National Commission on Human
Rights (Komnas HAM).

Deputy chairman of House Commission II for legal and home
affairs Hamdan Zoelva said here on Tuesday that his commission
would study those cases again and would make a proposal to reopen
the cases if they were convinced by any new evidence.

"We will study the three cases again with hope that we will
find new evidence to allow the House to reopen them," Hamdan said
after a hearing with Komnas HAM at the House building on Tuesday.

DPR leaders have assigned Commission II to carry out another
investigation into the cases following a recent hearing with the
rights body.

During the hearing, the rights body questioned the result of
the House's investigation into the bloody 1998 and 1999 melees
that proved fatal for dozens of prodemocracy student
demonstrators.

The rights body has proposed that the House reopen the case
since it found that "gross human rights abuses" occurred by
government security units. Human rights activists have called
them crimes against humanity.

Four students from Trisakti University were shot and killed
when they were rallying in front of their campus in Grogol, West
Jakarta, on May 12, 1998, to demand reforms in the administration
and the military. At least 16 more students were killed in a
bloody clash between student demonstrators and military personnel
at the Semanggi toll road off ramp adjacent to Atma Jaya
University on Oct. 13, 1998 and ten others were killed in another
prodemocracy rally at the same spot on Sept. 24, 1999.

Former officials with the City Police and Military have denied
any responsibility and claimed that they did not order their
personnel to shoot the students.

Komnas HAM Chairman Abdul Hakim said that the rights body's
fact-finding team met with House leaders in October last year and
asked them to review its conclusions and proposed the
establishment of an ad hoc human rights court to try the alleged
rights abusers.

In response to the request, the House leaders assigned House
Commission II to assess all documents on the incidents.

During the hearing with the commission, Komnas HAM called on
the House to facilitate a meeting involving Komnas HAM, the
Attorney General's Office and the DPR to outline procedures for
the implementation of Law No. 26/2000 on Human Rights Trials
because there had been a difference of opinion on the law between
Komnas HAM and the Attorney General's Office.

The disagreement has left the AGO unwilling to follow up on
the rights body's findings and recommendations over the three
incidents.

Abdul Hakim urged the AGO to become proactive by using the
rights body's findings to bring perpetrators in the three
incidents to justice.

Human rights issues have been put on the back burner by the
government and many leaders now lack the will to do much about
the violations, especially since they have busied themselves with
getting reelected.