GENERAL APPEAL (Indonesia): Continued Impunity ensured by the apathy of the Attorney General 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (Kontras) regarding the recent developments in the yet unsolved case of the disappearances of 14 students and activists over the period of 1998 and 1999 across several undisclosed locations in Indonesia: the “handiwork” of the then President Soeharto’s New Order Government.

We have also been informed of the recent publication of an investigative report by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas Ham) in which the Attorney General has been urged to fulfill his most basic duties, in the filing of formal charges against the alleged perpetrators of the abductions of 1998 and 1999.

Furthermore, Komnas Ham has in its report clearly classified these abductions and a number of others as gross Human Rights violations, as defined under law No. 26 of 2000. The reluctance on the part of the Attorney General to press for the recommendation of these cases to be prosecuted before an Ad Hoc Human Rights Court, and in conducting further investigations, has perplexed many in Indonesia and the international community.

Article 20 of Law 26 of 2000 stipulates:

1. Should the National Commission on Human Rights consider there is sufficient
preliminary evidence that a gross violation of human rights has occurred, a summary of the findings of the inquiry shall be submitted to the investigator.
2. No later than 7 (seven) working days following the submission of the summary findings of inquiry, the National Commission on Human Rights shall submit the inquiry findings in full to the investigator.
3. In the event that the investigator considers the inquiry findings referred to in clause (2) insufficient, the inquirer shall immediately re-submit the inquiry findings to the investigator accompanied by guidelines for their completion, and within 30 (days) of receiving the inquiry findings, the investigator is required to consummate these insufficiencies.

The relevance of the issues raised above must be seen in the context of two major issues: the tradition of impunity currently enjoyed by the perpetrators of human rights violations in Indonesia, and the denial of justice to the victims thereby undermining public faith in the Justice system as a whole.

Kidnappings and brutal assassinations became the signature style of Soeharto’s New Order Regime, and has become somewhat of an institutional practice of Indonesian Government and governance since then. In the lead-up to the 1996 general elections, several key members of the Indonesian Democratic Party Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) were abducted and were never heard from again. Then again, during the May Riots of 1998, several key activist members of the Democratic People’s Party and the Indonesian Students Solidarity for Democracy were abducted. It is common knowledge that the military were largely responsible for this series of politically-motivated abductions.

The mass protest of the public masses against these kidnappings was successful in ensuring the release of eight young activist students; however, 14 democracy activists are still unaccounted for. Their names are; Suyat, Yani Afri, Sonny, M. Yusuf, Noval Alkatiri, Dedy Hamdun, Ismail, Bimo Petrus, Abdun Naser, Hendra Hambali, Ucok Siahaan, Yadin Muhidin and Wiji Thukul.

In late 1998, the military court tried and prosecuted 11 officers of the Mawar Specialist Unit of the Kopasus Armed Forces, who publicly admitted their guilt and part played in the abduction of 9 of the 14 activists. They were sentenced to 15-26 months imprisonment, and were forced to resign from the TNI State Army.

In 1999, the bereaved families of the abduction victims submitted a joint lawsuit to the East Jakarta State Court, in which they demanded that the Commander of the TNI State Army be held accountable for the abductions. In early 2005, Komnas Ham conducted an official review of the student-abductions of 1998, and appointed an investigative outfit to make more detailed and in-depth investigative enquiries. However their efforts to investigative Military Generals and the Kapasus Specialist Forces believed to have orchestrated the abductions, as well as the suspected sites of detainment and torture of the victims, were blocked at every stage.

KOMNAS HAM submitted an official report of their investigative findings to the Attorney General, the Supreme Court and the Indonesian Parliament on 8 November 2006. In their report, KOMNAS HAM implicated 27 officers of the TNI State Army, National Police (Polri) and State Intelligentsia (BIN).

Unfortunately, the Attorney General has taken no action in pursuing the matter further, and in pressing for a prosecutory trial. Such behaviour defeats the purpose, and undermines the integrity of the prosecution system. In the case of clear human rights violations on the part of the State, it is the fundamental responsibility of the Attorney General to conduct further investigations in the event that further evidence is required, to request the House of Representatives to authorize the filing of the case(s) with the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court, and to oversee the provision of adequate redress to the victims and/or their families.

The inactivity of the Attorney General in this matter has been roundly and publicly condemned by the House Commission III on Human Rights, as well as Komnas Ham themselves. Said Komnas Ham Official Enny Suprapto; “In spite of the significant evidence that we have found, the Attorney General’s Office refused to carry out its own investigation. It has refused to seek testimony from experts or look for new evidence at locations considered to be places where the activists were allegedly held captive”.

The gross human rights violations committed both by the Military and the Police in the murder of over 35 young students in Trisakti and Semanggi in 1998 and 1999 have also suffered a similar fate (See our previous appeals: UA-23-2002; UP-81-2005, UP-102-2005).

Given the gravity of the crime committed, the prolonged stagnation of justice for the victims of gross human rights violations paints a very negative picture of the Indonesian State; particularly of its Prosecution system. It is a sad fact that justice remains a dingy prospect for many Indonesians.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the Attorney General of Indonesia, expressing your grave concern over the inexcusable delay of justice for the then Government-authorized abductions of the 14 said activist students in 1998 and 1999.

 

 

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