President asked to state govt human rights agenda

JAKARTA (JP): The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has called on newly elected President Abdurrahman Wahid to explain his government's human rights agenda.

Kontras deputy coordinator Ori Rahman said many human rights abuses committed by the New Order government should be resolved by the new administration.

The present government "cannot run from its political responsibility" with regard to human rights abuses committed by the previous administration, Ori told a media conference.

"A delay or failure in resolving past cases of human rights abuses will create new legal uncertainty," said Ori, whose organization has been active in representing relatives of missing people and victims of human rights abuses in Aceh.

"At the end of the day, it is the victims who will suffer if these cases are not resolved," he said.

The election of Abdurrahman, or Gus Dur as he is better known, and his vice president Megawati Soekarnoputri last week raised hopes for a better human rights record in Indonesia since both have been at the forefront in fighting for democracy.

But Kontras withheld its endorsement, saying that both figures had failed to clearly express their human rights agenda.

"We've not heard any tangible measure that the government is going to implement with regard to human rights abuses committed during the New Order government," Ori said.

The violence in Aceh and Maluku, the shooting of Trisakti University students in Jakarta in May last year, the abductions of student activists in the last months of the Soeharto regime, and the shooting of students near the Semanggi cloverleaf in Jakarta in November last year and earlier this month are a few of the more recent cases of abuses. The list grows longer if one includes the abuses committed since the New Order took power in 1966.

Early this year, before his election to the presidency, Abdurrahman broached the idea of establishing a truth and reconciliation commission, modeled on post-apartheid South Africa, to deal with past human rights abuses.

He has not mentioned the idea since his election last week.

Kontras said the new government should give priority to dealing with human right abuses in the provinces to dowse separatist sentiments and ease tension in the regions. (byg)