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Acknowledging rights violations: A new year’s resolution?
Is the President's human rights promise like a typical new year's resolution that will be broken, or can we trust that it is part of the legacy he intends to leave behind to create a better future for the nation's children?
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President Joko Widodo, accompanied by members of the Nonjudicial Resolution Team for Past Serious Human Rights Violations (PPHAM), expresses his regret over 12 gross human rights violations in the past in his speech at the Presidential Palace on Jan. 11, 2023. (Press and media bureau of the Presidential Secretariat/Mukhlis)
W
hy do people make resolutions at the beginning of the year? Because they think it can give them a clear slate and an opportunity to correct things or make them better.
My new year’s resolution is to engage in some serious “Swedish death cleaning”, referring to Margareta Magnusson’s book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Make Your Loved Ones’ Lives Easier and Your Own Life More Pleasant.
Basically, it’s a method for getting rid of all the stuff we have accumulated over the years that we don’t need anymore so no one else is burdened with it after we die. Everyone over 50 should do it, and since I will be 70 in a year and a half, my Swedish death cleaning is way overdue.
Another reason is because I am selling the big house I have lived in for 31 years and plan to move to a smaller one, which will force me to reduce my belongings. The process of sorting all the stuff – clothes, books, documents, memorabilia – is tiring, nostalgic and sometimes painful, as personal possessions are often associated with memories of the past. But as hard as it is to let go, it has to be done in order to move on toward a better future.
Was President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo acknowledging past gross human rights violations on Jan. 11 the government’s 2023 resolution? Like my Swedish death cleaning, it’s long overdue.
During a press conference at the presidential palace, Jokowi stated: "With a clear mind and a sincere heart, I, as the leader of this country, admit that gross human rights violations have happened in several incidents and I regret they happened very much. […] I have sympathy and empathy for the victims and their families."
He cited 12 “regrettable” events that took place between 1965 and 2003, from the communist purge that killed an estimated 500,000 people, to the abduction and “disappearance” of prodemocracy activists in 1998. The government vowed to restore the rights of victims "fairly and wisely without negating judicial resolution", the President said, adding: "I will endeavor wholeheartedly to ensure that gross human rights violations never happen again in the future."
