I

ndonesia was once reminded of its commitment to criminalizing practices of enforced disappearance by adopting the United Nations convention against involuntary disappearance. On Aug. 30, the world observed the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

Despite its active participation in the drafting of the convention at the UN headquarters in Geneva from 2003 to 2005, the country has yet to deliver a clear commitment to preventing the practice of involuntary disappearance from happening in the future. Only by subsuming the convention into national law could such a commitment be validated, but as yet, a long-awaited deliberation of a bill ratifying the convention has been held up for political reasons.

The House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense, foreign affairs and information, which is in charge of the deliberation, did not include the ratification of the convention on its list of priority bills to be endorsed during the ongoing sitting session that would run until the end of October.

'€œThe current sitting session is dedicated to focusing on two other conventions regulating Indonesia'€™s international cooperation,'€ Commission I chairman Mahfudz Siddiq said told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

In the upcoming session, Mahfudz noted that Commission I would only need to proceed with a final step if it desired to endorse the bill because an earlier deliberation process had already been completed. All that remained to be done was to make a decision, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician said.

The House began the deliberation process in late 2013, more than three years after Indonesia signed a treaty pledging to adopt the anti-involuntary disappearance convention. However, the bill has been left hanging by a thread since early last year over demands emanating from the Gerindra Party and the Hanura Party. The chairmen of these parties '€” Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto of the Gerinda Party and Gen. (ret.) Wiranto of the Hanura Party '€” were allegedly involved in the abduction of pro democracy activists during the May 1998 riots.

An investigation by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in 2003 declared Prabowo, a former commander of the Army'€™s Special Forces (Kopassus), and Wiranto, ex-commander of the Indonesian Military (TNI), responsible for human rights violations in reaction to the riots that preceded the fall of former president Soeharto'€™s regime.

Commission I did not schedule any hearings to discuss the bill until today.

Meanwhile, national as well as international human rights watchdogs also questioned the commitment of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo in pursuing the matter regardless Jokowi'€™s heartwarming promises to do so during his presidential campaign.

'€œDuring his presidential election campaign, President Joko Widodo promised to address the issue of enforced disappearance. However, after his election, several members of Widodo'€™s administration backtracked and made statements suggesting that past human rights violations, including cases of enforced disappearance, would not be investigated and those responsible would not be prosecuted,'€ said the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in a statement.

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance (AFAD) followed suit, calling for Indonesia, which is near the top of a list of Asian countries with a troubled history of enforced disappearances, to enact domestic laws criminalizing the practice.

Among ASEAN countries, Indonesia ranks second place in regards to the most number of unresolved cases of enforced disappearance reported to the UN with 163 cases, trailing behind the Philippines with 625 cases.

'€œThe reluctance to criminalize such practices will inspire anyone with power to reproduce similar violence in the future,'€ Komnas HAM chief Nur Kholis said.

'€œBesides confirming our commitment to cut down on impunity over these crimes, ratifying the UN convention is also a way to give guarantees of safety to the people over the misuse of power by the state in the future. They will feel safe from being forcibly abducted anyone, particularly for political reasons,'€ he added.