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Indonesia: Major Human Rights Abuse Cases To Go On Trial
By IslamOnline’s correspondent in South Asia, Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA, January 16 (IslamOnline) - A major human rights abuse case involving military and police personnel will soon open in Indonesia following the issuance of a presidential decree on Monday in Jakarta.
The events took place in 1984 in Tandjung Priok in Indonesia and include the 1999 violence in East Timor.
The decree appoints 18 judges for the long awaited ad hoc human rights tribunal that is to handle abuse cases.
However legal experts in Jakarta say it is yet to prove that the tribunal will do justice to the hundreds or even thousands of victims of rights abuse throughout Indonesia.
"The ad hoc tribunal will try human rights violations committed during 1999 surrounding the United Nations-administered ballot in East Timor and the Tandjung Priok bloodshed in 1984," Justice Benyamin Mankoedilaga, chairman of the team preparing the recruitment of the judges, said on Monday.
All 18 judges appointed by the President were recommended by the Supreme Court, said Benyamin, adding that 12 of them will serve as first degree judges and six others would serve as appeals judges.
They will receive a salary of about US$100 in addition to of US$400 for every case they handle.
The 18 ad hoc judges will work together with 12 career judges appointed by Chief Justice Bagir Manan in December 2001.
According to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra, the judges will start working immediately, but no specific date was given for the beginning of the trials.
In Jakarta human rights activists and political observers says this move is another victory by the Megawati Sukarnoputri government since it came to power in July 2001.
The announcement came weeks after the arrest of the son of former strong man General Suharto who was president for 32 years and ruled the nation with a strong fist.
Tommy Hutomo Mandala Putra Suharto, son of the general, was a fugitive from justice for almost one year, evading an 18 months prison sentence for a corruption case.
His arrest was hailed as a victory for the Megawati regime. The recent ending of the violence in Poso, Sulawesi where Muslims and Christians were at arms, has also given positive results to the government.
It showed that the regime in power in Jakarta had a degree of control of the security in the country.
Following the announcement, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said that TNI (army) leadership would leave the trial against some of its generals to the country's justice system.
He, however, warned that the public must not "politicize" the cases.
"As long as it (the trial) is held for the sake of the legal matters, just go ahead. We (the TNI) do not mind," Endriartono told reporters at the Army Headquarters in Jakarta.
Three army generals, a police general and a number of middle-ranking officers are among the 19 suspects who are facing trial for alleged gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999 before and after its August 30 vote for independence.
The biggest name that has disappeared from the list is that of former Armed Forces chief Gen. (retired) Wiranto.
The Attorney General's Office (AG) took his name off the list, raising questions on the motives by the AG.
The 19 suspects will be charged under 12 sets of dossiers, each of which include separate violations within a certain category.
The Attorney General's Office has also named three senior army officers as suspects in the Tandjung Priok case.
Human Rights activists, however, still doubt the credibility and capability of judges for the ad hoc tribunal.
Other activists says they are concerned that the trial of generals and soldiers involved in massacres in the restive province of Aceh has not been named and that the cases involving the province were not taken into consideration.
Government officials however says that this is only the beginning of such trials in Indonesia and that the public must expect more in the future.
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