Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – Twenty-six years after soldiers killed dozens of demonstrators in Tanjung Priok, rights groups are demanding that the next attorney general finally bring to justice the masterminds who have so far eluded prosecution.
On Sept. 12, 1984, soldiers fired on Muslim protesters demonstrating against a government proposal requiring all organizations to adopt Pancasila as their ideology.
The death toll from the incident has long been disputed, but estimates range from 24 by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), to several hundred by other sources. Only four bodies were ever recovered and identified.
After the fall of then President Suharto in 1998, the case was finally investigated, and in 2003, 14 people were tried and subsequently acquitted by an ad hoc human rights tribunal.
Muhammad Daud, from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), on Monday accused the Attorney General's Office of protecting the masterminds behind the case, including former Vice President Try Sutrisno, who was the military commander for Jakarta at the time.
"The AGO has never been serious about prosecuting the case," he said. "There are people already identified in the Komnas HAM investigation, like Try Sutrisno, who should be prosecuted but never were. Many of Komnas HAM's findings were never used by the prosecutors, which weakened the cases against the 14 who stood trial in 2003."
Kontras has vowed to take the case to the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force on the grounds that several witnesses had allegedly been bribed, intimidated or harassed by law enforcement officials to recant their earlier statements to the AGO.
Another rights group, Imparsial, called for the next attorney general to be appointed from outside the AGO in order to finally resolve the case. It said that outgoing Attorney General Hendarman Supandji and his predecessors had failed to investigate cases of human rights abuses perpetrated by the Armed Forces.
If the next attorney general was to come from within the AGO's ranks, it said there would be little hope for resolutions to a string of military abuse claims. Hendarman, who is set to retire next month, has nominated eight candidates for approval to the president, all of whom are AGO officials.
The families of the Tanjung Priok victims also say an outsider to take over at the AGO. "We want an attorney general who can revive the case by bringing fresh charges against those who were acquitted, and bring to justice the top military generals who ordered the killings," said Beni Biki, whose brother Amir died of multiple gunshot wounds in the incident.
"My brother was killed by guns paid for by the public. I'm ready to forgive, but no one has come forward to claim responsibility. I will not rest until there is justice for my brother and the others who were killed."
Wanmayetti, whose father was among the Tanjung Priok demonstrators, said his body had never been found. "I just want closure," she said. "If he's dead, I want to be able to visit his grave and pay my respects, like a daughter should."