Requisites for S. African, S. Korean models for justice

Many are learning about the experience of other countries in the search to heal the nation's scars. Yogyakarta-based political observer Mochtar Masoed, who has taught in South Korea earlier this year, stresses the requisites for considering other models.

Question: Do you think there will be charges brought against Soeharto for alleged violations of human rights?

Answer: (Bringing him to court for) human rights violations would indeed be easier. For example, the mysterious shootings (known by the acronym Petrus) which Soeharto himself, in his biography, admitted to having ordered. He had said it wasn't then military chief Benny Moerdani who ordered the shootings of suspected criminals, "it was me."

There will certainly be such demands; this is what most people are waiting for. Those who feel themselves to be victims of the New Order will not stay silent.

Soeharto also has his supporters, among whom are religious figures. Your comment?

Such a view will always be the case because our people tend to see things in parts instead of a whole ... There will also be "honest" but "incorrect" views in the defense of such charges.

For instance, in the case of (former high-ranking military officer) Syarwan Hamid and the July 27, 1996 case. He's among the suspects in the violent takeover of the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party -- yet he's a hero to his native Riau province. Maybe because not many from Riau have managed to become generals.

But the issue here is how the government and law enforcers can make locals realize that this person may really be in the wrong. So Riau people may have to find someone else for an idol, someone who's successful and good, and not necessarily a general.

We are told that dealing with former authoritarian regimes has always been complicated. Among the much talked about models, what country could be the best reference for "reconciliation"?

Facing the remains of Soeharto's regime is indeed a dilemma for Gus Dur's (Abdurrahman Wahid's) administration. If he doesn't take action, the public and political parties will raise a lot of noise. While a firm hand would increase resistance from those who were, and still are, very powerful.

There are at least two models for reconciliation -- that of South Africa and South Korea. ... But we cannot apply South Africa's model ... which involves amnesty for perpetrators and violators of human rights abuses after they have described the crimes in public. Gus Dur's administration has already pledged a trial for the perpetrators.

What about South Korea?

That would be difficult to adopt here because law enforcement there is firm and respected, unlike here. The minute former presidents (Roh Tae Woo and Chun Doo Hwan) were named suspects, straight away the public saw them being handcuffed and put in detention.

Besides, Gus Dur has already said Soeharto will be pardoned after being tried. So public distrust accumulates; how can a trial be held in earnest in the knowledge that the defendant will be pardoned?

Weren't the former Korean presidents later pardoned?

Yes, but only after a trial was actually held.

So has Gus Dur's administration has no chance left to win over the public in this regard?

What it can do is try hard to prove that the trial against Soeharto is serious. The issue of the government versus his supporters must also be settled while it must maintain its upper hand in this case.

The government has repeatedly stressed that Soeharto will give back much of his wealth in return for amnesty. Do you think this "Gus Dur" style of settlement will work?

I'm not sure he would return his wealth, or whether he would ask for an apology. That's Soeharto's nature. (Asip A. Hasani)