Truth commission considered crucial

JAKARTA (JP): A truth commission is a crucial complement to criminal prosecution as the former is "less expensive" and better able to address thousands of cases of past human rights violations, experts say.

"Criminal prosecutions of past human rights violations tend to be very expensive as they need professional investigators, prosecutors and judges," Douglas Cassel, director of the Center for International Human Rights at the Northwestern University School of Law, told a discussion on a truth commission here on Friday evening.

He said that in criminal cases, "the perpetrators often conceal evidence, intimidate witnesses and they often have strong and a well-financed team of defense lawyers".

He added that even in a successful prosecution, the question before the court is limited to "did this accused commit this crime?" so that broader and systemic questions are irrelevant.

Therefore, Cassel said, a truth commission should be considered as another mechanism to address past human rights violations.

"The commission can give large numbers of victims the opportunity to tell their story and identify large numbers of victims for possible reparations," Cassel said.

He also said such a commission could address questions such as patterns and reasons for human rights violations and weaknesses in a state and society that permitted violations to occur.

"The truth commission can then recommend reforms of laws and institutions, designed to prevent a recurrence of violations in the future," Cassel said.

Cassel said, however, that "criminal prosecutions and truth commissions are not one or the other".

"It is possible to do both ... each can accomplish important objectives which cannot be accomplished by the other.

"A decision should be made whether to give primacy over certain cases to the prosecutor or to the truth commission," Cassel added.

Paul Van Zyl, a former executive secretary of South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission who also spoke at the seminar, shared Cassel's opinion, saying that Indonesia "needs to ensure that these two must complement each other rather than contradict each other".

The statements come as human rights campaigners have been calling for a truth and reconciliation commission to allow the country to come to terms with its traumatic recent past.

The government has responded by drafting a bill on a truth and reconciliation commission which is scheduled to be submitted to the House of Representatives in March.(byg)