Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The party of retired military commander Wiranto says it has no objection to a government plan to set up a human rights court that could deal with past cases in which he has been implicated.

"There's no problem if the government thinks it's necessary to do it," Saleh Husin, a legislator with the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), said on Friday.

He added the establishment of the ad hoc court would not impact Wiranto, who is seen as a likely candidate for president in next year's election, because he was already cleared by a court of human rights violations allegedly committed while he was the military chief of staff.

Saleh said that while Hanura would not focus too much on the plan to set up the court, he hinted that it was politically motivated, noting the timing of similar calls raised in the past.

"This issue often surfaces ahead of legislative or presidential elections. And that's normal," he said. "The issue also came up before the last presidential election [in 2009] and disappeared after the election."

He added this showed that Wiranto was seen as a serious candidate by the rest of the political establishment.

Wiranto has long been accused by independent rights organizations of playing a role in the violence that erupted in East Timor following an independence referendum there that saw pro-Jakarta militias, reportedly backed and armed by the military, attack civilians.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a former justice minister, said that if the government's plan to set up the court went through, it would need to make clear what case it would deal with, because an ad hoc court can only be established for a stated purpose.

He also pointed out that the government had previously set up an ad hoc court to address the East Timor violence, which cleared Wiranto of any wrongdoing, in a decision upheld by the Supreme Court.

The call for an ad hoc court to be set up to address past rights abuses was first made by legislators in 2009, but forgotten soon after.

It was only revived last year following a landmark report from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) that alleged gross rights abuses by the state stretching back to the 1965-66 anti-communist purge.

The rights body has urged the Attorney General's Office to open a formal inquest into the cases, but prosecutors have repeatedly rejected the request, citing the lack of required paperwork from Komnas HAM.