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n behalf of the state, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono plans to make an apology to families and victims of past human rights abuses, hoping that it will be a starting point in lifting the country’s heavy historical burden.

Yudhoyono’s effort deserves appreciation, because the rights abuses have hurt not only a few, but many people, either physically or psychologically. His will to apologize is very humane and can serve as the state’s first step in sincerely admitting its past mistakes.

The President is expected to apologize to families of the victims of the reaction to the 1965 coup attempt blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party, the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre when the military opened fire on protesters, the 1989 Talangsari massacres in Muslim communities in Lampung and the May 1998 riots that forced then president Soeharto to resign.

With Yudhoyono willing to say sorry, hopes abound that the cases, which are categorized as gross human rights violations, could be settled once and for all.

As of today, there has been no full settlement of any of these cases. Such a solution, however, can only be arrived at if the plan is more than simply lip service.

More than just an apology, the government must compensate the families and victims and heal them of their physical and psychological trauma and, more importantly, rehabilitate the names of the victims and their families.

Albert Hasibuan, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on legal issues, said a draft of Yudhoyono’s apology speech was being prepared that would include devising a mechanism to compensate the victims.

Yudhoyono’s apology may help to heal the wounds suffered by the victims of past human rights abuses but the government needs to take into consideration material and other losses resulting from the abuses.

Many of the 1965 victims and their families suffered economically and socially. Under the New Order, they were stigmatized as having a connection with the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party and were therefore deprived of jobs. Worse, their children could not go to public schools or state universities.

For years, the victims and their families were isolated from the community. Their life improved under president Abdurrahman Wahid’s leadership. Many political prisoners jailed as a result of the 1965 coup attempt were released. They had their social, political and economic rights restored, some of them were elected as lawmakers.

Apologies and compensation alone, however, will not be enough. They are just the first steps toward settlement of past human rights abuses, rehabilitation and reconciliation.

Following the apology, the government must disclose to the citizens what really happened in the past, because the principles of solving past human rights abuses include disclosure of the truth.

The state, through its security apparatus and law enforcers, must investigate the human rights violations and bring the perpetrators, many of whom are still alive, to justice.

A number of military and police officers and government officials were tried at the adhoc Human Rights Court for their alleged involvement in atrocities in East Timor, Tanjung Priok and Wasior in Papua, but escaped jail sentences, raising doubts about Indonesia’s seriousness in breaking the cycle of impunity.

The President’s apology will not be sufficient without clarity as to why he is apologizing. Revealing the truth is the key. If the plan to apologize is only part of the state’s efforts to bury past human rights abuses, the words will mean nothing. Many will deem the President’s initiative as merely an attempt by him to restore his image which has been tarnished by a series of corruption scandals involving members of his political party.

To prove his good faith, the President must order thorough investigations into the unresolved cases and push for a redraft of the bill on truth and reconciliation that the Constitutional Court declared was in violation of the Constitution.

Yudhoyono’s apology will be a milestone of the nation’s commitment to eliminate human rights violations. Stern law enforcement and heavy punishment of perpetrators of human rights abuses will ensure crimes against humanity do not recur in the future.

The writer is a journalist at online television wartatv.com.