Right abuses victims reject reconciliation draft law

Right abuses victims reject reconciliation draft law

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Victims of human rights abuses staged a peaceful rally on
Wednesday at the House of Representatives in a show of rejection
of the bill on a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The protesters, calling themselves Solidarity for Victims of
Human Rights Abuses, said they wanted justice, which was the only
thing that could prevent future rights abuses.

"Real justice will be obtained through a democratic human
rights trial," said Mugiyanto, who led the protest.

Mugiyanto was the victim of an involuntary disappearance
during the repressive New Order era.

During the demonstration, the protesters unfurled a banner
which read: "Reject the bill because it does not benefit the
victims."

They also displayed posters featuring photos of several police
and military officers, including Dibyo Widodo (former National
Police chief), Djaja Suparman (former Jakarta Military chief),
Hamami Nata (former police chief), Nugroho Djajusman (former
Jakarta Police chief), Wiranto (former military chief),
Roesmanhadi (former police chief) and Hendardji (former military
police chief).

Below the picture of the photos read: "They must be held
accountable." This was in reference to alleged human rights
violations that occurred under their watch.

The protesters said they represented victims of four rights
abuse cases: The Tanjung Priok massacre in Jakarta in 1984,
involuntary disappearances in 1997/1998, the May riots in 1998
and the Trisakti and Semanggi shootings in Jakarta in 1998.

They claimed the bill on the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission that is currently being debated only regulated the
technicalities of the establishment of the commission, not the
substance of justice.

The protesters said the bill would benefit the perpetrators of
human rights abuses, not the victims.

Article 42 of the bill stipulates that human rights abuses
that have been settled by the commission cannot be brought to
trial in a court of law.

The protesters said the commission and human rights trials
must complement each other.

During a hearing with the House committee deliberating the
bill on Wednesday, victims of the 1965 violence that followed a
coup attempt said they hoped the committee would recommend that
the President issue a decree to repair the good names of the
survivors. The said they continued to be stigmatized because they
were associated with the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI)
blamed for the coup attempt.

They said such a decree would help create a conducive
situation for national reconciliation. Former president
Abdurrahman Wahid has apologized to survivors of the 1965
violence on behalf of the organization he once chaired, Nahdlatul
Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization, whose members
in 1965 joined in the slaughter of alleged PKI members and
supporters.

Regarding the deliberation of the bill on the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, the group said the bill only defined
the victims of human rights abuses, while a definition for the
perpetrators still did not exist.

The group said they represented both sides of the 1965
violence: Founding president Sukarno who died in custody,
military officers who died in the attempted coup, Sukarno's
ministers and assistants, politicians who were murdered and
detained without trial, and all those who for decades were
stigmatized following the coup attempt.