TNI opposes truth, reconciliation
TNI opposes truth, reconciliation
Kurniawan Hari
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Irked by allegations of involvement in numerous human rights
abuses, spokesmen from the Indonesian Military (TNI) expressed on
Tuesday their opposition to a truth and reconciliation
commission.
Speaking at a hearing with the House of Representatives
special committee drafting the truth and reconciliation
commission bill, TNI Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said past
mistakes should not be charged under laws that would come into
effect later.
"According to universal practices, no law can be applied
retroactively," Endriartono explained to the lawmakers.
TNI has also questioned the principle of retroactivity adopted
in Law No. 26/2000 on establishment of a human rights court which
has seen some of its officers found guilty of involvement in
atrocities in East Timor in 1999. Currently, another set of
trials is underway for the Tanjung Priok bloodshed of 1984.
Using similar reasoning, they blocked the National Commission
of Human Rights' summonses for questioning of officers implicated
in incidents in Jakarta known as the Trisakti and Semanggi
tragedies in 1998 and 1999, in which several student protesters
were shot dead.
The House is deliberating on the formation of the truth
commission, which would have the task of settling past human
rights violations via investigations and reconciliation meetings
between the perpetrators and victims and/or their relatives.
The lawmakers have agreed on the principle of retroactivity,
but remain undecided on the extent of the period the commission
will cover.
Also speaking at the hearing was Ermaya Suradinata, the head
of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas).
Unlike Endriartono, Ermaya suggested that the truth and
reconciliation bill should clearly state from which point the
human rights violations could be settled through reconciliation.
Responding to the suggestion, chairman of the committee
Sidharto Danusubroto, said ideally the legislation could apply to
all human rights abuses that had taken place since the country's
independence on Aug. 17, 1945.
In the previous hearing, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
Wirayuda had said the truth and reconciliation commission should
only go back 30 years, thereby ruling out further investigations
into the alleged coup in 1965 and the massive bloodletting that
followed.
Only 20 of the 50-member committee were present at Tuesday's
hearing, and only five of those seemed to be actively engaged in
the debate.
Sidharto expressed his optimism that the truth and
reconciliation bill would be completed before the current House
members' tenure expired in August next year.
The bill was mandated by the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR) in a decree issued in 2000.
It is intended to settle human rights violations that have not
been brought to a close by the current legal system.
It is expected that the perpetrators or witnesses testifying
before the commission will apologize to the victims and offer
compensation.