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Government to proceed with settlement of Semanggi tragedies through House
The two institutions will work under the coordination of the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister amid the government’s efforts to settle cases of past gross human rights abuses, including the Semanggi tragedies.
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Protestors hold banners to commemorate the 600th weekly Kamisan protest on Sept. 5, 2019. Kamisan, a silent protest that has been held every Thursday since Jan. 18, 2007 by the Victims Solidarity Network for Justice (JSKK), calls on the government to take action to resolve cases of past human rights violations. (JP/Narabeto Korohama)
T
he National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) have agreed to proceed with the settlement of the Semanggi tragedies following outcry over the attorney general’s statement that the cases were not examples of gross human rights violations.
The two institutions will work under the coordination of the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister amid the government’s efforts to settle cases of past gross human rights abuses, including the Semanggi tragedies.
"No statement was made that denied that the Semanggi tragedies were gross human rights violations. It is all still in the process [of further investigation and legal deliberation]," Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said on Friday.
Mahfud clarified that all parties were on the same page regarding the issue and that the attorney general had cited a House of Representatives statement from 2001.
During a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs on Thursday Jan. 16, newly installed Attorney General ST Burhanuddin said the shootings in 1998, remembered as Semanggi I, and 1999, remembered as Semanggi II, were not extraordinary cases.
The Semanggi I tragedy that occurred from Nov. 11 to 13, 1998, saw more than 17 people killed during student protests against the 1998 special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the Indonesian Military's (TNI) involvement in politics and the civil service, known as dwifungsi (dual function)
The Semanggi II tragedy, which took place roughly one year later on Sept. 24, 1999, saw 12 more people killed during a student protest against the drafting of a danger mitigation bill (RUU PKB) that activists feared would increase the role of the military.
