How will Milosevic's trial affect RI?

How will Milosevic's trial affect RI?

The United Nations war crimes tribunal against former Yugoslav
president Slobodan Milosevic has begun. How will this affect many
unsettled cases of human rights violations in Indonesia? Renowned
lawyer and executive director of the Jakarta-based Center for
Human Rights Studies (Yapusham) Todung Mulya Lubis shares his
views.

Question: How much hope do you have regarding the settlement
of cases regarding Indonesia's human rights violations with the
beginning of the Milosevic trial?

Answer: This should serve as a lesson to Indonesians that
(perpetrators of) crimes against humanity and war crimes can be
subject to an international tribunal.

That we have not ratified the Rome Statute (on the
international criminal court) must not lead us to consider that
we are immune.

Rapid development in international law could cause
perpetrators of human rights violations to be brought to an
international trial even though the jurisdiction of the
international court has not been recognized.

Secondly, this (the Milosevic trial) will of course aid all
parties concerned with human rights for a speedier process in the
set up of a human rights court and an ad hoc human rights court
(for crimes that occurred before the passing of the Human Rights
Court Act on Nov. 23 2000).

Our neglect in failing so far to set up such a court will
provide justification for international rights activists,
including those from countries highly concerned about human
rights violations such as in East Timor, to demand the
establishment of an international tribunal if our own courts
prove to be ineffective. ....

Instruments such as (delaying) international aid could also be
used ...

Therefore, the Milosevic trial will have a positive impact in
our preparation for a human rights court.

What should be prioritized among so many of our human rights
violations cases?

Priorities should be the cases in Aceh, Papua, East Timor and
the shooting of students of Trisakti and in the Semanggi area --
not that other cases are not important, but we must have
priorities.

Is there a double standard in the prosecution of Milosevic, as
some have suggested, given earlier calls that former president
Soeharto should also be brought to an international tribunal?

This (allegation) would be inaccurate. There has not been a
resolution from the United Nations Security Council against
Soeharto saying that he is responsible for crimes against
humanity and that he can be brought to an international tribunal.

If the atmosphere is more conducive now to speed up human
rights violations trials won't there be resistance from the
Indonesian Military or its members?

Not as long as the trial is fair, objective and free from
being "engineered."

A human rights trial in the country would be far better than
an international court -- which would further tarnish our image.
However, who could guarantee that there would be no intervention?

Meanwhile, the retroactive clause in the Human Rights Court
Act (passed last November) will indeed pose a problem (such as)
the possibility of many cases being considered closed ...

With the passing of the attorney general Baharuddin Lopa who
was considered a man of integrity despite his critics, are you
still optimistic of a more smooth process toward the settlement
of cases of human rights violations?

Even with Lopa, the task of setting up a human rights court
and an ad hoc court was never seen to be easy despite the (Human
Rights Court) Act No. 26, 2000 ... because of the absence of
infrastructure and the lack of personnel.

So, it would take a relatively long time to set up such courts
unless we want to set up show trials.

Without Lopa, one factor that might have sped up this process
is now gone; how long it will take depends on the new attorney
general, who will have to adjust (to his surroundings).

Unfortunately, we now face this political situation ahead of
the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly
(scheduled for early August), the results of which we cannot
predict.

Much attention will be focused (on this event) and this will
make the process (toward settling human rights violations) even
slower. (anr)