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Activists, victims' families doubt truth commission idea
This would not be the first time the government has formed a commission tasked with seeking the truth and offered reconciliation on past human rights cases. The MPR called in 2000 for the establishment of a national truth and reconciliation commission. It was followed up with the enactment of a 2004 law that mandated the government to form the commission.
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Human rights activists hold a rally in front of the State Palace in Jakarta on Thursday, demanding justice for past human rights abuses. The rally, also known as Kamisan, has been held routinely every Thursday for more than 10 years. (The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan)
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t has been 21 years since Maria Catarina Sumarsih lost her son, Benardinus Realino Norma Irawan, aka Wawan, then 20 years old, who was killed during a student protest that took place in Jakarta between Nov. 11 and 13 in 1998.
At that time, students were marching to the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) complex to protest against the dual function of the military and to express distrust in the MPR, which was a product of the New Order regime. The students never got into the MPR because they were blocked by security personnel around the Semanggi cloverleaf bridge.
Wawan was a member of a humanitarian volunteer team and was going to tend to injured student protesters when he was shot in the chest by security personnel. Witnesses said Wawan had obtained permission from security personnel and was carrying a white flag as a sign for the personnel not to shoot him.
He was among the 17 people killed during the protest, which later became known as the Semanggi I tragedy.
Since then, Sumarsih has been on a crusade to seek justice for her son’s death, which has become a long and stalled fight due to lack of political will from the government to solve such gross human rights violation cases for decades.
Ahead of International Human Rights Day, which fell on Dec. 10, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD offered a glimpse of hope as he said the government would solve past human rights violation cases by reviving the idea of establishing a truth and reconciliation commission.
The idea, however, was quickly dismissed by human rights victims as well as activists, calling the idea “a false hope”.
