Indonesians want past human rights cases resolved

JAKARTA

Most Indonesians want the current administration to resolve past human rights violations, according to a recent poll.

The Kompas Research and Development Center and the National Human Rights Commission surveyed 1,200 respondents in 34 provinces from Sept. 23 to Oct. 4 and found that 99.5% of them deemed that human rights cases and their perpetrators must be tried in national and international courts.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday in the capital, Jakarta, National Human Rights Commission commissioner Choirul Anam said the poll focused on the five most frequently discussed cases of human rights violations.

The first case involves the murder of hundreds of thousands of people accused of being connected to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1965.

The second case concerns the mysterious shootings of people accused of being "thugs" or committing crimes from 1982 to 1985, with the death toll estimated at 10,000.

The third case involves the shootings of student protesters in 1998 in an incident better known as the “Trisakti Tragedy”.

The fourth case concerns the abduction of pro-democracy activists from 1997-1998 during former President Soeharto's reign. Nine of the 24 abducted activists have since returned while 14 others were declared missing and one was found dead.

The fifth case centers on the May 1998 riots which were triggered by the Asian monetary crisis.

During the riots, hundreds of people were killed, dozens of women were raped and shops and shopping centers were looted.

"This poll suggests that the public's expectations of trials through the court mechanism remain high," said Anam.

He said unfortunately, people's expectations were not in line with efforts made by the government so far.

In his first term, President Joko Widodo committed to resolving cases of past human rights violations. But since he entered his second term in October, none of these cases have been brought to court.

Instead, the current government planned to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to resolve past human rights violations through non-judicial mechanisms.

Anam said he hoped the commission would continue to prioritize the rights of victims rather than pardoning the criminals.

“The violators should still be held accountable,” he stressed.

- Loss of public’s trust

Despite the high public expectations, the poll suggested that some people still doubt the capability of the Widodo administration to address the human rights violations.

For example, the poll showed that 65.5% of respondents are pessimistic about the ability of the government to bring the case involving the abduction of pro-democracy activists to court.

Anam said the government has lost the public’s trust since the president failed to resolve the case during his first term from 2014-2019 despite highlighting the issue during his campaign.

Widodo's rival during the presidential elections, former general Prabowo Subianto, was allegedly connected to the abductions by special forces led by him as a commander general at the time.

Widodo later appointed Subianto as defense minister after being elected for a second term, which according to Anam contradicted his campaign on the resolution of human rights violations

"Now it is up to the president to resolve the cases according to public expectations or not. If he doesn't want to, it means he doesn't listen to the public's voice," he added.

*Rhany Chairunissa Rufinaldo contributed to this story