Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – No improvement was made this year with the country's poor human rights record, which was marked by almost no progress of legal action against suspected perpetrators of crimes against humanity and, most lamentably, several acquittals, rights activists said.

Reviewing human rights protection in 2002 in Indonesia recently, deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Solahudin Wahid lamented the lack of courage shown by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to declare the shooting deaths of 21 people, mostly students, during anti-government rallies in 1998 and 1999 at Trisakti and Semanggi, as gross human rights violations as recommended by the commission.

"The AGO decision was triggered by the House of Representatives' conclusion that no human rights violations were committed in the Trisakti and Semanggi incidents," Solahudin said. The Trisakti shooting, which left four students dead, was followed by a wave of chaos and massive demonstrations that preceded the fall of long-time ruler Soeharto in May 1998.

Komnas HAM has filed its investigative reports on the Trisakti and Semanggi incidents to the AGO, which is expected to examine the cases and take legal actions against the perpetrators. Solahudin said the AGO also lacked the courage to name prominent military officers as suspects in the Tanjung Priok massacre in 1984. The current Special Forces (Kopassus) commander Maj. Gen. Sriyanto heads the list of 14 suspects named by state prosecutors in connection with the bloodshed. At the time of the incident, Sriyanto, then a captain, was leading an operation to restore order following a mass rally.

The AGO let former Armed Forces chief Gen. (ret) L.B. Moerdani and former Jakarta Military commander Gen (ret.) Try Sutrisno off the hook despite their key roles in the incident. "What can we do about that, Komnas HAM has no authority to object to the decision," Solahudin said.

The Tanjung Priok case would be the second in the country brought to a human rights court after the East Timor mayhem in 1999. Those trials are ongoing. Solahudin also said that the current efforts to uphold human rights was overshadowed by antiterrorism jitters. He said the government regulation in lieu of a law on antiterrorism was prone to human rights violations, thus it must be rejected.

Human rights activist Albert Hasibuan concurred with Solahudin, stressing that the human rights protection in the country this year took a step backward by the many odd verdicts in the ad hoc tribunal for the East Timor atrocities. The ad hoc court acquitted a number of military and police officers who were believed to be held responsible for the crimes against humanity. The court convicted two East Timorese civilians, a former militia commander and a former civil servant. "The acquittals reflect the real policy of the court and the government and express unjust human rights enforcement," Albert said.

Therefore, he said, it was not surprising that calls to try perpetrators for human rights abuses in Aceh, Papua and other areas had also received weak responses from the government. "The government is trying to protect the military in order to maintain the unity of the nation, which has been under threat since the fall of Soeharto in 1998. The government considers the role of the military to be a higher priority than human rights," Albert, a former Komnas HAM member, said.

Albert added that the government's approach was based on fears that trials against military officers would discredit the Indonesian Military (TNI) as an institution. "It's a wrong perception as the abusers are individuals and not institution, but the government still sees it that way," Albert said.

Solahudin said the commission received over 2,000 reports of human rights abuses in 2002, but only a few of them could be categorized as grave human rights violations. He said human rights abuses occurred in various regions, mainly in conflict-ridden areas like Aceh, Poso in Central Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua.

However, only the ambush on two vehicles carrying employees of PT Freeport Indonesia in Papua that killed three people and injured 12 others was considered a grave human rights violation. "We may have a lower number of gross human rights abuses this year, but law enforcement against the perpetrators of the existing serious human rights violations is very disappointing," Solahudin said.

Both Solahudin and Albert said attempts to improve the country's human rights record relied heavily on the government's commitment and will to conduct thorough investigations into past rights abuses and then hold fair trials.

"The government, as well as the court, must restore their poor record in human rights protection. They should not conspire with the military by acquitting them," Albert said. Solahudin said that the investigation over human rights violations in Aceh, the mass rapes and murders in Jakarta in May 1998 and other cases under former president Soeharto must see justice done. "Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of justice," he said.