Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Wednesday called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to order the Attorney General Office (AGO) to relaunch investigations into the country's "forgotten" human rights cases.
"We aren't seeing any progress with those cases. They remain unsolved without any clarification from the government," chairman of commission Ifdal Kasim told The Jakarta Post, adding that presidential backing was necessary to overcome obstacles blocking the investigations.
"The President can put pressure on the AGO to finish its investigations into the serious human rights violation cases."
Ifdal said seven serious rights abuse cases had been dropped even though the commission had sent the cases to the AGO several years ago. "We only have the right to investigate the cases and the 'AGO' will follow it up and bring the cases to the ad-hoc human rights court," he added.
The cases center on the shooting deaths of three students during the 1998 demonstrations in Semanggi and on the Trisakti university campus in Jakarta, the disappearance of activists in Jakarta, also in 1998, and the Talangsari massacres in Lampung in 1989, Wasior and Wamena in Jayapura, Papua in the 1990s.
The three cases involve alleged killings or abductions of members of the public by Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers. Komnas HAM has accused some retired generals of involvement in the Talangsari abductions.
Ifdal said the President had the authority to cut through the obstacles that had previously hampered the investigations, including resistance from retired TNI generals.
"We just want to make sure that the cases will be further investigated and brought to the human rights court soon. If the government decides to stop the legal process, weneed to ask anymore," Ifdal added.
He said the AGO also needed the backing of the House of Representatives to establishment an ad-hoc human rights court. However, the House earlier concluded that the cases did not constitute rights violations, and that there was subsequently no need to establish the proposed new court.
Ifdal countered, saying the commission had turned up numerousrights violations in the cases.
The commission is now investigating another case centering on the shooting of several criminals by an unidentified gunman during the New Order era of former president Soeharto. still have a long way to go. There are some obstacles that are blocking efforts to investigate past human right abuses. But we are committed to doing it," Ifdal said. (naf)