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Better revealing the truth than offering compensation
Such non-judicial settlements look pressing following the failed attempt to resolve past serious crimes in court.
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Open wounds: The chairman of the Foundation of Victims of the 1965/1966 Killings (YPKP65), Bedjo Untung, (center) and colleagues visit the National Commission on Human Rights in Jakarta on Dec. 13, 2019, to submit their findings on 346 mass graves located in Java and Sumatra that they believe are related to the state-sponsored anticommunist purge. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
O
nly two years remain for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to get the still-pending cases of past serious human rights violations justly resolved – a promise he made in his 2014 presidential campaign.
In his speech on Aug. 16, Jokowi said he had signed a presidential instruction on the formation of a team in charge of non-judicial settlement for past crimes against humanity. He also said the drafting of the bill on the Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (KKR) was already at the hearing stage.
A Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Law took effect in 2004 but the Constitutional Court revoked it in 2006 following a judicial review. Revision of the law has been put on hold since.
The 2021 national legislation program did not include the revised Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (KKR) bill in the list. Even if it did, and a law was to be drafted, the process would take time. Not to mention the additional time required to form a selection committee and for the selection process of its commissioners that would run in stages.
The commission would also need time to properly do its job. It would take more than three years before all these stages were complete and before the KKR was ready to make a decision. I believe it would be best that the task of finding the truth and securing reconciliation was assigned to the past serious human rights violation non-judicial settlement team.
The team is then given the mandate to reveal the truth and ensure the recovery of the victims. Its responsibilities would include making recommendations to the President on amnesty and rehabilitation, and payment of due compensations.
Such non-judicial settlements look pressing following the failed attempts to resolve past serious crimes in court. An ad hoc human rights court once was established to settle atrocities in then East Timor. No one, however, was convicted in the court of appeals. Another example was the Tanjung Priok massacre. Alleged perpetrators stood tried, but only low-ranking law enforcement officers were sentenced.
