Legislators back Military's defiance over rights inquiry

Legislators back Military's defiance over rights inquiry

Kurniawan Hari and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

House of Representatives legislators turned a deaf ear on Monday
to demands for military and police officers to appear for
questioning at a human rights inquiry in connection with three
high-profile incidents in 1998 and 1999.

In a hearing with the Indonesian Military's (TNI) top brass,
members of the House Commission I for political, defense and
security affairs threw their weight behind both the TNI and the
National Police, which put up a fight against the summons issued
this month by the Commission for Inquiry into Human Rights
Violations (KPP HAM) during the 1998 violence at Trisakti
University and the Semanggi incidents in 1998 and 1999.

"The decision of the legislators concerning the incidents in
Trisakti and Semanggi must be used as the basis for further legal
action. The House has never proposed for more inquiries into
those cases," Ibrahim Ambong said as he read the summary of the
hearing, which was attended by TNI chief Adm. Widodo A.S., Army
Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, Navy Chief Adm. Indroko
Sastrowardoyo, and Air Force Chief Air Marshal Hanafie Asnan.

The House recommended in July last year that no human rights
violations took place in the three incidents. Shortly thereafter,
then president Abdurrahman Wahid issued a decree that allowed the
National Commission on Human Rights to set up the inquiry team.

A number of military and police generals on duty when the
incidents broke out have been summoned, but none of them have
appeared.

The agreement between the TNI and the legislators on Monday
came three days after Vice President Hamzah Haz suggested that
the officers comply with the summons. Hamzah, however, reminded
the KPP HAM that the officers' reputation was at stake.

During the hearing, the head of TNI's legal affairs section
Maj. Gen. Timur P. Manurung said the military headquarters had
never received a summons from the inquiry commission.

"As of today, there has been no summons to the military
headquarters for questioning. There are only two requests from
the inquiry for a hearing with the TNI commander," Manurung said.

Like the House, Manurung questioned the authority of the
inquiry to investigate the three incidents.

"The TNI will obey the summons if it is sent by a legitimate
and authorized institution. There is no reason to follow the
summons (sent by the inquiry)," he said.

Manurung said as far as he understood Law No.26/2000 on Human
Rights Trials and Law No.39/1999 on the National Commission on
Human Rights, there was no legal basis for any inquiry into past
crimes against humanity.

He also said the inquiry had presumed the officers guilt
because it would file dossiers with the human rights court based
on the questioning.

Separately, the newly formed Ad Hoc Tribunal Watch Coalition
demanded a review to the existing laws related to human rights
because they fail to cut through the veneer of impunity that
military officers have had in alleged past human rights abuses.

It said the law on human rights courts opened the door for
political bargaining, since the law authorizes the House, instead
of law enforcers, to determine which cases should go to the
rights trial.

"The law allows legislators to make compromises with the
military and the national police, which will never accept
responsibility for past abuses," Hendro Nurchayo of the
University of Indonesia said.

Munarman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of
the Violence (Kontras) said the law was created to appease
international pressures on the country over past human rights
abuses, particularly those in East Timor.

"The Law will only fulfill the international demand by
sacrificing certain military officers of lower level, But it will
not punish the top brass," Munarman said.

Ifdal Kasim of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy
(Elsam) said the international community was allowed to interfere
if the ad hoc trial does not bring those responsible to justice.