Rights body demands reopening of past cases

Rights body demands reopening of past cases

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Marking International Human Rights Day, the National Commission
on Human Rights recommended on Friday that President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono reopen probes into past shooting incidents that
killed students who were demanding reform.

The commission said the legal processes supposed to uphold
justice following the incidents had failed to implicate those
persons most responsible.

"On behalf of the state, the President is responsible for
bringing officers who were in charge at that time (to justice),
because it was them who allowed gross human rights violations to
take place," commission chairman, Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara,
told a press conference.

He said the President had the power to declare incidents that
took place before the enactment of Law No. 26/2000 on human
rights tribunal as crimes against humanity.

Four Trisakti University students were shot dead during a
protest rally demanding sweeping reform in front of their campus
in Grogol, West Jakarta on May 12, 1998. At least 16 more
students were killed in a bloody clash between student
demonstrators and military personnel at the Semanggi toll road
off-ramp adjacent to Atma Jaya University on Oct. 13, 1998, and
10 others were killed in another pro-democracy rally at the same
spot on Sept. 24, 1999.

A number of police officers were court martialled and
convicted for the Trisakti shooting.

However, no top brass with the Jakarta Police or Jakarta
Military accepted responsibility for the incidents -- widely
known as Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II tragedies -- saying
they had never actually ordered their personnel to open fire at
the students.

"The court martial of low-ranking police officers only proved
that the shooting occurred, but did not examine the state's
responsibility for the incident," Abdul Hakim said.

The commission's inquiry team found gross human rights
violations had occurred in the three incidents. It has submitted
its findings to the Attorney General's office and recommended
formal investigation into the cases, but to no avail.

Abdul Hakim expressed the hope that the new Attorney General
Abdul Rahman Saleh would live up to the rights body's
expectations.

During the press conference, which followed a plenary meeting,
Abdul Hakim also highlighted rights abuses in conflict-prone
regions in the country, including Aceh, Papua and Poso in Central
Sulawesi.

"The ongoing war in Aceh, as well as security disturbances in
Papua and Poso, has paved the way for rampant rights abuses,
ranging from involuntary disappearances and internal displacement
of people," he said.

The commission has closely monitored developments in Aceh
since the government launched a major operation to crush rebels
in May last year. Its inquiry found significant human rights
violations had occurred during the operation, including rapes and
extra judicial killings. The rights body is completing the report
and will submit it to the Attorney General's office next year.

The commission has also submitted its report of the Abepura
shooting case, which is expected to be heard at the ad hoc rights
tribunal earlier next year.

Abdul Hakim said the commission was concerned about the UN
plan to examine verdicts on the 1999 East Timor mayhem, and
international pressure urging Indonesia to invite special
rapporteurs to Aceh.