H

opes of seeing the generals allegedly responsible for the May 1998 riots dragged into an international rights tribunal have been dashed, after the International Criminal Court (ICC) made it clear that it would not concern itself with any crimes taking place prior to 2002.

ICC president Song Sang-hyun has said there will be no exceptions made to the statute’s principles of complementarity and non-retroactivity, meaning that the court’s jurisdiction will remain strictly focused on cases taking place after the statute came into force in July 2002, according to Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana, who met with Song in The Hague, the Netherlands, earlier this month.

“The ICC president told me that there are no exceptions for the two basic principles under any circumstances,” Denny told The Jakarta Post. “My question to Song was general and didn’t refer to particular cases.”

It had been uncertain whether the ICC had the authority to hear cases such as forced disappearances, which, though committed before July 2002, could be categorized as “continuous crime”, with experts providing mixed opinions.

While the chances of bringing those responsible for the forced disappearance to the ICC are now slim, rights activists have urged the government to immediately set up an ad-hoc human rights court, as mandated by the 2000 Human Rights Courts Law.

A recommendation from the House of Representatives on the establishment of an ad-hoc court for the 1997/1998 forced disappearance cases, which is mandatory according to the law, was sent to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2009.

The Indonesian Ombudsman has even reprimanded the President for ignoring the House’s recommendation for more than three years.

Attorney General Basrief Arief said an ad hoc rights court could not be organized in the near future, given the internal rift that was now rocking the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

“There are still differrences of opinion between the government and Komnas HAM. We had planned to discuss the differences but the problem within the commission has forced us to reschedule,” Basrief told the Post on Monday.

Basrief said that Komnas HAM needed to work on some details in its report for the 1997/1998 forced disappearance cases.

Among former Indonesian Military (TNI) officers accused of having responsibility in past human rights cases are People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) chairman and former chief of the TNI Gen. (ret.) Wiranto, as well as Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) chief patron and former commander of the Special Forces Command (Kopassus) Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto. The two are looking to win the presidency in the 2014 election.

Basrief said the government was unconstrained by politics in the formation of an ad hoc rights tribunal.

Prabowo has repeatedly attempted to draw a line under the affair, claiming the investigation into the 1998 forced disappearance of pro-democracy activists has been completed, resulting in the finding that a team he set up (the Rose Team) was responsible for the kidnapping.

Wiranto has attempted to justify the military’s actions in 1998 by saying that “the country was in a mess at that time.”