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It's time for Prabowo to apologize for past mistakes
When asked about the human rights allegation, Prabowo responded he realized it was a risk in a democratic country like Indonesia, where people have freedom of expression.
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Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto speaks on June 3, 2023 at a plenary session of the 20th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. (Reuters/Caroline Chia)
Since Prabowo Subianto will be turning 72 in October and is gearing up for his third bid for the Indonesian presidency, the time has come for the defense minister to speak up about his alleged involvement in human rights abuses while he was an active military officer.
His disclosure will hopefully serve as his "mea culpa" without any legal consequences, because the government has opted to pursue nonjudicial settlement for past atrocities. Besides, Prabowo has never been charged in connection with any of the acknowledged cases, though he has been linked to at least three gross human rights violations that occurred before the fall of president Soeharto, who was then his father-in-law, on May 21, 1998.
Twenty-five years have passed, and this is also probably the last chance for Prabowo to address the allegations, which perhaps contributed to his defeat in the previous presidential races.
Telling the truth and saying sorry will give Prabowo a place in the nation’s history as a statesman who stands ready to look beyond his own interests. If necessary, he can consult his legal advisors on how to apologize to "innocent people who might have become the victims of my miscalculations and arrogance of power".
On June 27, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo launched the government’s nonjudicial solution for 12 cases of gross human rights, including the mass killing of 500,000 people that followed the alleged coup attempt by the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) on Sept. 30, 1965.
The three cases that implicate Prabowo are the 1997-1998 forced disappearances of pro-democracy activists, the May 1998 riots and the fatal shootings of Trisakti University students on May 12, 1998. Many victims of the forced disappearances are still missing, and many of the victims of the May riots in Jakarta, which reportedly included gang rape, continue to live in fear and with trauma.
Prabowo’s subordinates on Tim Mawar (Rose Team) were found guilty of abducting activists and have served their jail terms.
