Margareth S. Aritonang – The House of Representatives is expected to adopt a United Nations convention that would serve as a legal foundation to criminalise practices of enforced and involuntary disappearances by the end of this year.
The House of Representatives' Commission I, overseeing defense and foreign affairs, has recently completed deliberations on the adoption of the convention with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), human rights groups, experts and relatives of victims of enforced disappearances; all of whom supported the ratification of the convention.
House Commission I chairman Mahfudz Siddiq said however, he was concerned about how the ratification could potentially be used to thwart the presidential candidacy of politicians who were alleged to have been involved in past human rights abuses.
Mahfudz, a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician was referring to Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party chief patron and former commander of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto; and chairman of the People's Conscience (Hanura) Party and then TNI commander Gen. Wiranto. Both were named by Komnas HAM in 2003 as being responsible for human rights violations that occurred during the 1998 riots that preceded the fall of former president Soeharto's regime.
Prabowo was in particular singled out for the disappearance of 13 pro-democracy activists.
Mahfudz said he was concerned that the country would pay a political cost internationally for ratifying the convention now.
"We are considering potential political costs in the global arena as several major countries, some of which claim to be democratic countries, have yet to ratify the convention," he said.
The United States and Russia are among the major countries that have yet to ratify the convention. He said that the UN should be more aggressive in promoting the convention.
"We need to anticipate cases of enforced disappearances from the deployment of foreign military. If major powers ratified the convention, they might be less aggressive in their foreign policies [toward Indonesia]," he said.
Other lawmakers from Commission I have also raised similar concerns. Lawmaker Evita Nursanty of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) questioned the urgency for Indonesia to ratify the convention now.
"I wonder why there is a sudden rush to ratify it now. It seems that this country is forced to comply with international regulations," Evita said in a recent hearing at Commission II.
Ninety three countries have signed the convention and 40 have ratified the document as of September this year. Countries that have ratified the UN Convention include Cambodia, Iraq, Japan and Kazakhstan. Indonesia signed the convention in September 2010.
Legal expert Muladi said that by ratifying the convention, Indonesia would show goodwill in international relations. "[...] We cannot force other countries to ratify it. We don't need to worry if they refuse to follow our lead because our choice doesn't depend on other countries. But, goodwill in diplomacy is important," Muladi said.
When the UN Convention is adopted into law by the House, the government must first find the whereabouts or remains of the victims who went missing in a variety of cases, which according to the data from various human rights watchdogs could reach 50,000.