Power dictates whether proof of rape exists

By Julia I. Suryakusuma

JAKARTA (JP): "Did the mass rapes (of ethnic Chinese women) really happen?" Even before the work of the government-sponsored joint fact-finding team is completed, a number of government officials have raised this nagging question. This has sparked a public debate -- and generated much confusion -- which has served to obscure rather than clarify the matter. This debate has centered around the presence or absence of bukti (evidence).

In Indonesia, evidence is intimately connected to power, may it be state power, parental power, male power or others. "Evidence" requires the verification of those in power.

In the absence of a legal system fully independent from the executive (read: the military), "evidence" is ultimately something held in the hands of the rulers.

In fact, one might say that the presence of "evidence" is inversely proportional to the accused party's proximity to power.

Minister of Defense and Security Gen. Wiranto recently made a statement regretting that the Commission on Human Rights had released a report about mass graves in Aceh, Sumatra, without consulting the Army first.

Despite the exhumation of mass graves, as long as the military doubts these killings happened during this decade (for obvious reasons of interest), it will not be said to be "proven".

Or consider Soeharto's challenge to the public to "prove" his wealth. It does not matter how many reports come out in the media. For the moment, Soeharto is still confident enough in his power, in the fact that he still controls the bureaucracy, therefore he knows there will not be a shred of evidence found.

Evidence will not materialize if the perpetrators are perceived to be a part of the same system of power as the investigators and the judges.

It is not surprising that women raped last May are unwilling to give testimony to the police, submit their bodies to forensic examinations by government scientists. All the more so if they are terrorized into keeping their mouths shut.

The gap between the demands for evidence and the conditions of the traumatized victims, as well as the continued terror, and denials especially by government officials -- has been a major hindrance in solving the crimes.

Recently it has been suggested that since photos of rapes circulating on the Internet are not photos of the rapes which occurred last May, that therefore the rapes never happened.

Nothing could be more absurd. Some groups have announced that the rape photos circulating on the Internet were taken from a book about human rights violations in East Timor.

One can only speculate about who would be interested in passing these photos off as photos of the May rapes. However, their recent misuse does not mean that the original photos were engineered. In fact, the photos of sexual torture by men in military uniform in East Timor, also worthy of condemnation in and of themselves, only supports the possibility of rapes in May by "trained groups".

It is exceedingly ironic that a regime built on the basis of historical distortion and a culture of lies, should demand evidence for an incident that has been officially recognized by its own government.

In the 32 years of New Order rule, the suffering of millions of people has been ignored, for the sake of "national stability". They might consider speaking out, were it not for the fact that the people were continuously terrorized, pressured and threatened.

In the New Order there is a tendency to conceal the truth. Even figures of, say, casualties of a train accident are reduced by the authorities, let alone incidents that are politically loaded. This is also the case with figures on poverty, unemployment and other social indicators.

Evidence is often engineered, as in the cause celebre of Marsinah (a female labor activist who was tortured and murdered for demanding higher wages), as well as Udin (a journalist who was investigating the suspected wealth of the Bantul regent), and Pak De (a traditional healer who was convicted, but most likely framed, for the murder of Dietje, a former model who allegedly had a relationship with a member of the Soeharto family).

All cases are yet to be solved, for lack of "evidence", although it is heavily suspected that the military/authorities were involved in all three instances.

Corruption and the appropriation of the people's wealth is concealed by big "development" projects; decision-making in the economic and political spheres are never transparent; the systematic violation of human rights by the state apparatus is masked by the "refined eastern culture" (of the Javanese), where the corruptness and degeneracy of the rulers is festooned by glittering state and military ceremonies.

Elections which are flaunted as a "festival of democracy" in fact are only a means to squander the people's money to legitimize the authoritarian rule of a few people, and one despot in particular.

In this context, the fact that the authorities can still demand evidence of the May rapes that clearly happened, is evidence of their arrogance and lack of moral and political responsibility.

"Evidence" and "truth" are connected to perception, which cannot be separated from self-perception and self-interest. In the case of the May rapes, the government has political and economic interests in denying that the rapes happened.

Politically, they may feel that recognizing the May rapes would undermine the authority of the government (and the military). Economically, it seems that some government officials are defensive due to the pressure of countries populated by ethnic Chinese, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and even China -- who have threatened economic sanctions if investigations into the case are not conducted satisfactorily.

"Evidence" is not evidence. Concerning the May rapes, an independent organization could prove they occurred, as the Volunteer Group for Humanity has done, by compiling confidential testimonies of victims. Whether the evidence is accepted is another matter.

In the context of an authoritarian regime, what counts is not truth but power, often brute (military) power. The authorities can "transform" lies into "truth", as "evidence" is an object that they construct, control and have power over.

The authorities have the means and resources to force their interpretation of an event and make it into a public truth. This is something they have done historically, starting with their interpretation of the alleged Communist coup in 1965 which was the basis of New Order rule and the legitimator of the systematic oppression of the people.

Indirectly, this interpretation (read: historical manipulation) is also the political basis for the discrimination against the ethnic Chinese as the Indonesian Communist Party was linked to the communist party in China.

In the case of the May rapes, by continually disbelieving the evidence that has emerged, the government -- but also the media and the public -- is treating the victims as the accused.

"Evidence" is not the same as reality, witnesses, let alone truth. "Evidence" like truth can only emerge in a context that is free of fear, threats, prejudice, vested interest, an independent judicial system, a society that is free from collusion, corruption and nepotism, a culture of openness, justice and democracy, and a government which is pro-people.

Only then will the "evidence" of the May rapes, which have already seared the conscience of many Indonesians and raised the indignation and anger of the international community, be able to be found.

The writer is a social and political commentator, and an activist-member of the Indonesian Women's Coalition for Justice and Democracy.