Dear Ms. Arbour,
Re: Indonesia – the sham trial of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib highlights the need for judicial and legal system reform
On this Human Rights Day, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to direct your attention to the state of the Indonesian justice system. Since the country’s first democratic presidential election of 2004, the ordinary Indonesian citizen has not seen an improvement in the protection of her rights and violence continues to plague Indonesian society. The AHRC believes that this has much to do with the country’s inept judicial and legal system.
The Indonesian legal system is such that torture, disappearances and other grave human rights abuses are not considered crimes and are not punishable by the penal code. This is the case even though Indonesia ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1998. While torture is considered a crime against humanity under Law No. 26 of 2000 in the Human Rights Court Act, the penal code does not define the act of torture and has no specific provisions for the prosecution of torture. At present, torture is treated in the same way as ordinary maltreatment between civilians. Furthermore, there are no provisions for the compensation of victims and no complaint mechanisms through which abuse can be reported.
Without relevant laws against human rights violations as well as the effective enforcement of these laws, it is not possible for grave human rights abuses to be addressed or for victims to be served justice. Instead, the perpetrators are granted impunity and encouraged to commit further abuses. The numerous gross abuses that continue to haunt Indonesia after so many years include the 1965-66 massacres, the 1998 May riots, the Trisakti and Semanggi killings, the Tanjung Priok and Abepura cases. In the latter two cases, the police and military officers charged with committing violations were recently acquitted by the human rights court. A recent class-action lawsuit filed against the government by victims of the 1965-66 massacres was dismissed by the court on jurisdictional technicalities without taking note of the case merits. While President Yudhoyono presented a ‘heroes’ award’ to the student victims of the Trisakti and Semanggi killings in August 2005, there is no justice for their families. Similarly, the attorney general refuses to prosecute the perpetrators of the May riots. In this way, the Indonesian legal system offers nothing in the way of redress to victims of human rights abuses.
Most recently, this is visible in the sham trial of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib. At present, the trial into Munir’s death is ongoing at the Central Jakarta court, with defendant Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a Garuda Indonesia pilot. While summing up on December 1, the prosecution recommended a life sentence for Pollycarpus for premeditated murder and the use of false documents. As the sole suspect, Pollycarpus is clearly a scapegoat, while those ultimately responsible for Munir’s death have yet to be apprehended. The shoddy prosecution stems largely from ineffective police investigation. While Munir’s death has received much publicity in Indonesia as well as internationally, this has made little difference in obtaining justice for Munir’s family.
Indonesia must therefore be urged to immediately reform its justice system, beginning with the amendment to its torture legislation in accordance with the provisions of the Convention against Torture. The Committee against Torture’s recommendations of 2002 require the government to:
Amend the penal legislation so that torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are offences strictly prohibited under criminal law, in terms fully consistent with the definition contained in article 1 of the Convention. Adequate penalties, reflecting the seriousness of the crime, should be adopted so that victims get justice and the perpetrators are punished [A/57/44, paras. 36-46, E. 10].
Indonesia’s recent ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights obligates the government to ensure that its laws and institutions protect the rights of its people and provide effective redress. On the occasion of Human Rights Day, it is time for the Indonesian government to demonstrate its commitment to the principles and spirit of the international covenants it is party to.
The Asian Human Rights Commission therefore urges you to exert the authority of your office and pressure the Indonesian government to take concrete measures to this effect. We reiterate that a first step in this direction would be to take action against the perpetrators of human rights abuse in accordance with legal provisions. Until this is done, there can be no effective justice system and no rule of law in the country.
Yours sincerely,
Basil Fernando
Executive Director
Link to the Indonesia report: http://www.ahrchk.net/hrday2005/pdf/HRDay-Indonesia.pdf
Link to AHRC’s 2005 International Human Rights Day page: http://www.ahrchk.net/hrday2005/
Link to AHRC’s Human Rights Day Message: http://www.ahrchk.net/hrday2005/05message.htm
