Tony Hotland and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government has been criticized for the slow process in the selection of members of the long-awaited Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) tasked with resolving past gross human rights violations.
The selection process has been stalled at the presidential office for almost six months.
State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono could not schedule a meeting as yet with the selection team of the KKR members, which had screened and submitted 42 names to him in August last year.
The President is to pick 21 of the 42 names before handing them over to the House of Representatives for endorsement.
The President issued a decree to establish the selection team only in April, when the commission itself should have been set up as required by the law on the KKR's establishment.
"The President wants to meet with the selection team first to hear their considerations and input in the selection. But the President hasn't had the time due to his busy activities," said Yusril.
The selection team consists of officials from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry and several human rights activists.
The KKR is mandated to focus on revealing the truth behind the past human rights abuses during the New Order administration of Soeharto, and establishing a mechanism for reconciliation among the parties concerned.
Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) Ifdhal Kasim said the government had demonstrated a poor sense of justice given that it saw no urgency in revealing the truth and promoting reconciliation between the perpetrators of human rights abuse and their victims.
"The President had the time to travel the world, attend a lot of forums and events, even insignificant ones. But he has no time to meet the selection team here. Don't think that enforcing the law is only about corruption because reformasi is also about settling human rights violation cases," he said.
Ifdhal attributed the sluggish process to the President's indecision over political considerations since once the commission is officially established, its investigations may target senior military officials, including Yudhoyono's seniors.
"This is a challenge for him to draw the line between the old and new regime. There are consequences that it may implicate his seniors that he will have to face," he said.
Ifdhal's view was shared by legislator Sidharto Danusubroto, who led the House special committee that deliberated the KKR law, saying the government was most likely facing a dilemma.
"I sense that there's a strong resistance within the government since this commission and the idea behind it is a completely new thing within our history," he said.
He said truth-telling of history was not part of Indonesia's culture given that the official version of history had always been told by those in power.
"There are still political innuendoes even as we speak on this KKR debate. I sense that the dilemma that the government is dealing with is quite the same with what we had when deliberating the law for 16 months," said Sidharto.
Selected names from the President will require endorsement from the House, which means more politics will be involved. The President will have to pick replacements if the House does not approve the names, thus it is hard to say when the truth shall be revealed.