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Jokowi’s gross human rights settlement plan: Let bygones be bygones
Tragically, five decades have passed by, but many people in the country still glorify the atrocities and justify them as a tool to protect the country from the “latent danger” of communism.
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Jokowi regrets past human rights abuses (JP/Hengky Setiawan)
“’Sing wis yo wis’ [let bygones be bygones] is the only way to make peace with peerless barbarism in the past.” I read that phrase on page 10 of a newly released book about the mass killings that occurred in our beloved Indonesia more than 50 years ago. The victims of the atrocities still have to endure the brutal acts perpetrated by the military and militia groups even decades after the bloodbath.
Amid President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s determination to resolve the dark past, in the end, the victims and the families of the atrocities eventually will likely have to recite the heading of this column. “Let bygones be bygones.”
Martin Aleida, the author of the book, Tuhan menangis, terluka (God cries, hurt), quotes the “Sing wis yo wis” bitter sentence from a poem by a former political prisoner. Martin sensed a betrayal by the former detainee, that the poet might no longer suffer the unimaginable acts of savagery, and eventually compromise himself with his torturers.
The book by the veteran journalist and writer is a compendium of concise but detailed information about crimes against humanity in many parts of the country between 1965 and 1966.
On Jan. 11, President Jokowi, based on findings of the Team of Non-judicial Settlement of Past Gross Human Rights Violations that he formed, officially acknowledged and regretted 12 crimes against humanity violations that occurred from 1965 to 2003.
He also promised to combine judicial and non-judicial resolutions to the gross crimes, although for the moment he will seek out-of-court settlements.
“With a clear mind and sincere heart, I as the President, admit that gross human rights violations did happen in various events and I very much regret that they happened,” the President said.
