Camelia Pasandaran – The Attorney General's Office indicated it would re-examine a number of human rights abuse cases involving the Indonesian Military, including the May 1998 tragedy, during a meeting with the president, the National Commission for Human Rights said on Friday.

Ifdhal Kasim, chairman of the commission, known as Komnas Ham, said Attorney General Basrief Arief said it would take a fresh look at the commission's findings tabled in 2003 but gave no assurances the investigation would be formally reopened.

"The Attorney General might have a different position to ours," Ifdhal warned, "it might issue an SP3 [an order to cease an investigation] as it is has the authority."

More than 1,000 people were killed during the final days of then President Suharto's rule in 1998 but despite Komnas Ham findings that serious human rights violations had occurred, the AGO has consistently failed to take any meaningful action. This is despite the AGO being mandated by the law to do so.

According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, the AGO has also halted a number of other "serious human rights violations cases," including the Trisakti case, the Semanggi I and II cases, the kidnappings and enforced disappearances of activists in 1997 and 1998 and the Wasior-Wamena case in Papua.

AHRC has also criticized the House of Representatives (DPR) for its "bad track record" in relation to the cases.

In the meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Komnas Ham said it had urged the president to resolve the case by "pushing the AGO to accelerate" the process, "or through other mechanisms."

Ifdhal said that though the case was not discussed in any detail, Yudhoyono had responded seriously and agreed to accelerate resolving the May 1998 tragedy and other cases, including the 1989 massacre of 130 Muslims by soldiers in Talangsari, Lampung.

Komnas HAM commissioner Yoseph Adi Prasetyo said a presidential decree was needed to allow a full investigation to proceed.

"The president only said that he was fully committed on past human rights violation," Yoseph said. "But he should think whether it should be done through the courts or other ways, such as with a truth and reconciliation commission."

Ifdhal said the president had ordered Djoko Suyanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, to hold comprehensive meetings with the commission every three months to discuss the problems.

The president said he would also hold meetings with the commission every six months, he said. "It shows the president has the political will to resolve these old cases. We only need to find the mechanism to achieve this."

Often deadly land disputes between the military and citizens were also another pressing issue, Ifdhal said. Indonesia is currently bidding to be re-elected to a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.