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."