In their minds, having dictator president Soeharto quit was not enough to wash away the grief that stayed even as the nation ushered into a new era of reform.

Instead, they have renewed demands for the government to thoroughly resolve past atrocities including the Trisakti Tragedy and the May 1998 riots, in which thousands of innocent lives were lost.

To mark 25 years since the tragedy and the ensuing sea-change, about 100 people clad in black and carrying black umbrellas gathered in front of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on an overcast Thursday.

Many of these people had been making the same silent protest every week for the past 16 years since Jan. 18, 2007, in what is now known as the Kamisan movement.

Among the protesters was Maria Sanu, who sat with her walking stick while holding a photograph of her son Stevanus Sanu, who died during the May 14, 1998 riots in Klender, East Jakarta.

She recounted how the 16-year-old boy left home alone that day for Yogya Plaza Klender, now Citra Plaza Klender, to watch the rioting, his friends having declined to join him.

Stevanus never returned home that day. He was inside the mall with 400 others when it was burned to the ground. His remains were never found or identified.

He was among the thousands of people who were reportedly locked in and burned alive during a string of riots between May 13-15. At the time, the capital Jakarta was consumed by violence, from multiple accounts of rape targeting ethnic Chinese women to looting and arson.

Turmoil ensued a day after university students held rallies calling for the resignation of Soeharto, which authorities responded to with violence. Four Trisakti University students were shot dead in the midst of the chaos.

After attending her 773rd Kamisan protest this week, Maria said she simply wished the government would commit to delivering justice to the victims and their families.

The current plan to take the non-judicial settlement route, she insisted, would never make up for her son’s death.

“I will hold on forever. I came here today [Thursday] because it has been 25 years since the Reform era began; a big day for my son, whose body has yet to be found,” she told reporters.

Kusmiati, another mother with a similar plight, was just as defiant during the silent protest. Her son Mustofa, 14, was also among the victims of the Klender mall arson.

“I demand the government bring to justice whoever burned my son alive,” she said, holding back tears. “It has been 25 years; the government should not forget the victims of May 1998. Many parents lost their children.”

In January, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo officially acknowledged 12 incidents in Indonesian history that amount to gross human rights violations, spanning the period between 1965 and 2003.

He expressed regret over the incidents, the first time for any Indonesian leader, but victims and their families insist that the gesture does not go far enough.

Among the cases of past abuse, Jokowi acknowledged the May 1998 riots, the Trisakti shootings and the Semanggi I and II tragedies, and pledged to “rehabilitate victims’ rights” without putting judicial resolution off the table.

The statement came as a surprise for many, especially after the government had set up a team to formulate recommendations for a non-judicial settlement.

To follow up on the recommendations, the state formed another team led by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD. He said recently that the settlement program would be launched in June.

However, for Maria Catarina Sumarsih, whose son Bernardus Realino “Wawan” Norma Irmawan was shot dead during the Semanggi I tragedy, this was not enough.

She called on Jokowi, who pledged to prioritize the investigation into and reconciliation over past rights abuses during his 2014 election campaign, to fulfill his promise by resolving past cases through a human rights court, in accordance with the 2006 Human Rights Law.

“We hold the Kamisan protests because we want [past rights abuses] to be resolved in the court,” she said.

“I will continue to call on whoever the president is to carry out reforms and resolve gross human rights violations in accordance with the law.”