Rights body urges fresh probe into Aceh abuses

Rights body urges fresh probe into Aceh abuses

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has reminded
the government of its unfinished investigations into a number of
alleged crimes against humanity involving the state in Aceh.

Commission member M.M. Bilah, also co-founder of the National
Commission for Missing Person and Victims of Violence (Kontras),
said it would review the government's investigations of the cases
which had failed to live up to public's expectations.

"The state has so far failed to promote fair trials that meet
international standards.

"The Attorney General's Office specifically has been unable to
follow up investigations conducted by the commission. I wonder
why President Megawati Soekarnoputri and lawmakers do not force
state prosecutors to do so," Bilah told The Jakarta Post on
Saturday.

He said the slow legal process of crimes against humanity
would further tarnish the image of the government and the House
of Representatives.

Aceh has an abundance of human rights abuse cases,
particularly when the restive province came under a decade-long
military operation (DOM) that ended in 1998.

Despite the government's and the military's apology to the
Acehnese for violence committed during the DOM, the violence has
continued. The most notable post-DOM rights violation was the
killing of Tengku Bantaqiah, a Muslim teacher in Blang Meurandeh
village in West Aceh, and his supporters in 1999. Several
soldiers were tried by a joint civilian-military court, instead
of a human rights tribunal as many had demanded.

An inquiry team set up by the rights body found at least 5,000
civilians had been killed, while thousands of others were
tortured and some women raped during the 10-year military
operation.

Thus far, the government has only established an ad hoc
tribunal for perpetrators of violence in the lead-up to and after
the 1999 independence vote in East Timor in 1999, thanks to
persistent international pressure.

The government is preparing another human rights tribunal for
those involved in the 1984 bloodshed in Tanjung Priok, North
Jakarta.

Skepticism has been rife, however, over whether the country
has the intention to uphold human rights, following the light
sentences and the acquittal of several military and police
officers implicated in the East Timor mayhem.

"The military's resistance to support fair trials has also
been questioned over whether they try to protect their own
political and business interests in the rich provinces," Bilal
said.

Meanwhile, rights activists urged new members of Komnas HAM to
watch whether the government's new policy in Aceh would lead to
further rights violations.

Ori Rachman of Kontras and Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal
Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) said that special
autonomy for the troubled province would not be the only answer
for all problems there, considering that "the policy looks to
come from the central government alone."

"Special autonomy for Aceh is a step forward to resettle
problems there because it is considered to bring more welfare for
the Acehnese people. But it will also vulnerable to rights abuses
as it failed to accommodate aspirations of the Acehnese," Ori
told the Post.

Ori further expressed hope that the new members of the
commission would take serious action against what he called
"systemic rights violations" in Aceh and other restive regions,
including Irian Jaya, Poso and Maluku, because "the violence
escalation there stems from the security approach chosen by the
military and police personnel."

Hendardi agreed with Ori, saying the commission had to show
its goodwill to investigate other rights violation cases in the
country.

"The law grants the commission the right to conduct a thorough
investigation into violence implicating the state. But I don't
see significant efforts pursued by the old commission members
regarding past abuses in Aceh," Handardi said.

"The commission should not justify the military's impunity."