As the country prepared to observe the 50th anniversary of Pancasila Sanctity Day on Wednesday, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan once again maintained that the government would not resort to any judicial mechanism to resolve past human rights abuse cases, including the 1965 Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) purge
s the country prepared to observe the 50th anniversary of Pancasila Sanctity Day on Wednesday, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan once again maintained that the government would not resort to any judicial mechanism to resolve past human rights abuse cases, including the 1965 Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) purge.
Luhut said the government was still exploring what he called 'a format that fit the Indonesian way' to deal with past rights abuse cases.
'We are still looking for the best format. Just like what I just said, if we pursue a legal process, many people involved have died, what should we do then?' Luhut said on Wednesday at the State Palace.
According to Luhut, the government would focus on ensuring that the children and families of victims would not continue to suffer from discrimination.
Although the government has committed to resolving a number of past human rights violations, including the 1965 communist massacre, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) has never followed up on the results of an investigation conducted by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on past rights abuses. The AGO has argued that the Komnas HAM investigation was marred by a lack of evidence.
Luhut reiterated that President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo had no plan to issue an apology to the victims and families of the 1965 communist purge.
Attorney General HM Prasetyo also reiterated his earlier statement when asked about how the government would bring closure to the rights abuses that took place in 1965.
He said that it would be 'more effective if [those past cases] were solved through a non-judicial approach, or a reconciliation process'.
He argued that the establishment of an ad-hoc human rights tribunal would be long and arduous.
Earlier on Wednesday, Prasetyo told The Jakarta Post that the government had not received pressure from any particular party or interest group to favor a reconciliation method.
However, Prasetyo acknowledged that the government and human rights activists were divided over the decision to resort to reconciliation methods instead of judicial means to resolve the past rights abuses.
'There are many activists who say that the reconciliation option should not be taken. But will they be able to find evidence for those cases? It has been decades [since the rights abuses took place]. The mysterious shootings are 33 years old, and that's just one of [the reasons] why the judicial option would be difficult,' he said.
Prasetyo said that since the government had decided to pursue the reconciliation method, all evidence of past human rights abuses would be irrelevant in the effort to resolve past rights abuses.
The attorney general said the most important thing to consider was the fact that the government would acknowledge that past gross human rights abuses had taken place.
'We will declare that they will not be repeated and we will reveal the truth of what happened. The government can express its regret and promise not to allow any kind of repetition, and then we can move on to rehabilitation and healing,' he said.
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung on Wednesday warned against those who had spread rumors that Jokowi was scheduled to meet with the victims and families of the 1965 communist purge and apologize to them.
'The rumors were meant to create unrest, and of course, to discredit the President. The police have already identified the person who spread them,' Pramono said.
Pramono also confirmed that Jokowi would lead the annual ceremony commemorating Pancasila Sanctity Day on Thursday at the Pancasila Sakti Monument in Lubang Buaya, East Jakarta.
Amnesty International criticized the government for abandoning the millions of victims and their family members of the 1965 purge.
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