The Jakarta Post, November 18, 2003
Experts fear whitewashing in new Truth Commission
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Experts have expressed concern that a planned Truth and Reconciliation Commission
will serve as a legal whitewash of past gross human rights abuses, allowing
perpetrators to avoid prosecution.
Frans Magnis-Suseno of the Driyakara School of Philosophy told the House of
Representatives commission in charge of deliberating the bill on truth and
reconciliation on Monday that many perpetrators of past human rights abuses were
still in power.
"It is not impossible that they are using their power to escape being held accountable.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission must not become an institution to protect
them," Frans Magnis said.
Political analyst J. Kristiadi from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies
expressed similar concerns at a hearing with the commission last week.
Frans suggested the bill order the planned commission to divulge the background of
all the human rights cases it handled.
Without a clear background and explanation, he said, victims of human rights abuses
would remain victims.
Former National Police chief Gen. (ret) Awaloeddin Djamin, meanwhile, urged
lawmakers to overhaul the government-sponsored bill, which he said contained
numerous flaws.
Awaloeddin said the bill did not clearly define the perpetrators of conflicts.
Taking the conflicts in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and in Ambon, Maluku, as examples,
Awaloeddin said it was difficult to identify the perpetrators in these communal
conflicts.
He added that finding who was responsible for rights abuses in a conflict involving the
state was also difficult.
"Is it the military soldiers, the police personnel, the commander or the president?" he
asked.
Monday's hearing was also expected to hear from Muslim scholar Nurcholish "Cak
Nur" Madjid, former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid and journalist Jakob
Oetama, but they failed to appear.
Commission chairman Sidharto Danusubroto said Cak Nur was too busy with his
position as rector of the Paramadina Mulya University and Jakob was sick.
Gus Dur, meanwhile, asked to delay his meeting with the commission until Dec. 9.
Awaloeddin also said the nation must restore the good names of those people jailed
without trial following the 1965 abortive coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist
Party.
He said the President could issue a decree to restore their names without having to
go through a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Earlier, several analysts have expressed doubt that the commission can help in the
process of national reconciliation.
J. Kristiadi from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said that the nation
could not reach reconciliation because the perpetrators of human rights abuses
remained more powerful than the victims.
"The current atmosphere is not feasible for reconciliation. If we insist on forcing
reconciliation, it will only create more problems," he said on the sidelines of a hearing
with legislators.
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.
All contents copyright © of The Jakarta Post.
|
