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Doubts shroud govt's plan to revive truth commission
Everlasting grief: Arief Priyadi (left) and Maria Catarina Sumarsih strew petals over the photo of their deceased son, Wawan, during a ceremony to mark the Semanggi I tragedy at Atma Jaya University in Jakarta on Nov
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verlasting grief: Arief Priyadi (left) and Maria Catarina Sumarsih strew petals over the photo of their deceased son, Wawan, during a ceremony to mark the Semanggi I tragedy at Atma Jaya University in Jakarta on Nov. 13. Wawan was among 17 people killed during a student protest in 1998, which later became known as the Semanggi I tragedy. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
It 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 complex to protest against the dual function of the military and to express distrust in the Assembly, which was a product of the New Order regime. The students never got into the Assembly 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”.
Mahfud conveyed the plan in late November, when he told journalists that the government was supporting a plan to issue a law that would serve as a legal basis for the formation of such a commission. The government would involve activists and victims or their families in the talks.
During a recent meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the minister told journalists the plan was part of the President’s mandate to him.
“We have been in the Reform Era for dozens of years. The government has discovered a number of cases in which the objects and subjects are unknown. Therefore, we need to look at the truth [first]. After that, we eventually can push for reconciliation,” Mahfud said at the State Palace on Wednesday.
He added the government would propose a bill to the House of Representatives that, if passed, would serve as the legal basis for a truth and reconciliation commission.
The minister, however, refused to answer when asked about details regarding the truth-seeking process that would be carried out by the commission.
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 Assembly 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.
While then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono did not make any decision regarding the commission, human rights organizations and representatives of victims filed a judicial review petition at the Constitutional Court on three articles of the law in 2006.
The problematic articles stipulated that the commission could recommend amnesty for perpetrators and give compensation for any cases in which the perpetrators were granted amnesty. The law also stipulated that any cases being addressed by the commission could not be brought to court.
In an unexpected turn of events, the Constitutional Court annulled the entire law. The ruling consequently hindered the establishment and work of similar commissions at the local level, such as the one tasked with settling the conflict in Aceh in mid-2000s.
Victims of gross human rights violations took Mahfud’s plan with a grain of salt, saying the commission should not be the only way to solve past human rights abuse cases.
“We have Law No. 26/2000 mandating that these cases be solved through a human rights tribunal. This is a guarantee that similar cases won’t happen in the future. So, why do we have to go back to such a [truth and reconciliation] commission?” Sumarsih said.
She added that the truth and reconciliation commission would work only if the cases were handled in the tribunal, as both things should complement and strengthen each other.
“I would agree if the government formed the tribunal first, then proceed with the reconciliation through the commission,” Sumarsih went on to say.
Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Yati Andriyani echoed Sumarsih, saying the commission should ensure justice for the victims rather than prioritizing reconciliation.
“The President actually can issue more tangible regulations to settle past human rights cases, rather than relying on the House to deliberate such a bill that will take a long time. For example, the President could issue a presidential decree mandating the formation of a human rights tribunal,” Yati said.
Marchio Irfan Gorbiano contributed to story
