D

espite the non-formal International People’s Tribunal (IPT) ruling that the systematic killing of people affiliated with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1965 constituted a crime against humanity, the case is likely to go no further, with state officials dismissing the verdict.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO), which is due to initiate a process into the violence of 1965, said the institution would stick to its own procedures.

AGO spokesperson Muhammad Rum on Thursday shrugged off the findings and conclusion of the Hague-based tribunal, saying it was an “unrecognized” entity.

Rum insisted that the legal process into past rights violations was ongoing, though declining to elaborate.

The IPT’s verdict on Wednesday strengthened findings by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), which declared the 1965 purge a gross human rights violation.

The rights body has submitted its findings to the AGO, but there has yet to be any follow-up.

Whether or not the country will resolve the past human rights abuse cases now depends on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who during his presidential campaign promised to resolve all human rights violations in the country, including those of 1965.

However, Jokowi’s administration looks unlikely to treat the matter seriously, with Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan lambasting the IPT for calling the 1965 purge a genocide in spite of what he called a lack of evidence as to the total number of people killed.

“Genocide means a crime that causes the deaths of thousands, yet they were unable even to mention a specific number,” Luhut said on Thursday.

“We have no business with them. Let them do whatever they want. They are an unofficial institution, while we, as a country, have our own legal foundation.”

Following Wednesday’s ruling, the human rights activists involved in the IPT aim to present the outcome of the tribunal to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) during a universal periodic review slated for next year.

As the IPT will take the tribunal result to the UN, Luhut said he would prepare everything necessary for a response, and threatened to take the Westerling massacre in South Sulawesi during the Dutch colonial era to the UN.

“We will prepare all data and evidence; we may even address the Westerling tragedy,” Luhut said.

Meanwhile, responding to the tribunal, elderly survivors of the 1960s political upheaval and bloodshed expressed joy at the verdict.

As a survivor, “I am deeply grateful for the verdict and to Ibu Nursyahbani”, said a former political prisoner, referring to noted lawyer Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, the coordinator of the tribunal. Others echoed the thanks to the judges and organizers while embracing each other and the IPT organizers after the live broadcast of the verdict reading from Cape Town, South Africa.

 “I am thankful to have lived until this day,” said one of the attendants of the broadcast in Jakarta, Lelonokardjani. “But what about the thousands of others and my friends who were tortured or have died or disappeared?” He said he was among those imprisoned without trial – one of the 10 “crimes against humanity” mentioned in the verdict. Lelonokardjani told The Jakarta Post he was a former journalist among thousands detained at Kali Sosok prison in Surabaya, East Java.

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Tama Salim contributed to this article.