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.