Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Families and survivors of human rights abuses have urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to set up an ad hoc court and bring those involved in human rights violations to justice.
They reminded the President of a House of Representatives (DPR) special committee which, in 2009, issued a recommendation to set up an ad hoc human rights tribunal and search for activists who are still missing.
"One word from the President could uphold justice. He is the person to settle past human rights abuses. The Constitution clearly mandates the President to uphold human rights," Mugiyanto, chairman of the Families of Missing Persons Associations (IKOHI) said in Jakarta on Thursday.
Mugiyanto was kidnapped by military personnel during the 1997/1998 turmoil and was later released alive. "We refuse to forget what happened then. We will keep retelling the story to forever remind the people of the troubles," Mugiyanto said on the sidelines of a discussion on forced disappearances in the country.
According to Mugiyanto, his group will always remind the public of the figures who allegedly masterminded the kidnapping – former leader of the Army's Special Forces Command (Kopassus) Prabowo Subianto, now chief patron of Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party, and former military commander Wiranto, now chairman of the People's Conscience (Hanura) Party.
"They may deny any role in cases of forced disappearances. They have the right to do so. However, there have been countless documents, reports, or research implicating them. A human rights court is the only way to prove the truth," Mugiyanto said.
On Thursday, the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) launched a research report of patterns of forced disappearance nationwide from 1965 to the early 2000s. The research shows that more than 50,000 people disappeared during those years, and only a few of them were released alive.
During the 1965 purge around 32,774 people went missing; while some 14 people were recorded kidnapped from 1982 to 1985; another 23 vanished during the Tanjung Priok incident in 1984, and 13 activists disappeared during the 1998 May riots.
Forced disappearances are also recorded outside of Java, for example in Aceh and Papua. Around 163 people were reported kidnapped during the military operation from 1989 to 1998 in Aceh, and other 278 people, 63 of them activists, during the military emergency in the province in 2003.
The research further highlighted the case of Aristoteles Masoka as one of many people kidnapped in Papua, missing presumed dead. Aristoteles went missing after he rode in a car with Papuan leader Theys Eluay before the latter was shot dead by members of Kopassus on Nov. 10, 2002.
According to the research, the majority of those who suffered the forced disappearances were influential at grass root level.
"Some were street sellers who shared their criticisms of social injustices with people they met on the streets. Others were street musicians who told stories or sang songs with similar message," researcher Erlijna said.
Above all, the research confirms other findings on a similar theme, for example that members of the military forces were responsible for most cases, or that such incidents were principally driven by two interests – politics and economics.
"We are trying to tell the story of the cruelty of our military forces in the past. These findings might have been unveiled earlier, but it still important to remind the public so that they will live on," Elsam director Indriaswati D. Saptaningrum said.
National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner Yosep Adi Prasetyo said that "the research can be used to complement other research to assure the government that forced disappearance is a historical fact". "It's time for the government to do something about these findings to avoid similar cruelty reoccur in the future," he said.