M

ay 9, p. 6

On 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. (By Yoyoh Haryani, Jakarta)

Your comments:

If you start approaching the issue legally, you definitely will not get anywhere.

As with similar cases around the world, Indonesia’s efforts to address its past human rights abuses should comprise three fundamental elements.

First, reveal the truth through the testimonies of the alleged perpetrators.

Second, take responsibility, hence apologizing by the state.

Third, compensate the victims.

Simply put, it has nothing to do with impunity.

It has to do with Indonesia’s determination to move forward democratically and to settle differences, now and in the future, with and through legal means. Not with and through violence.

Yaya Suraya