Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The government continues to drag its feet on setting up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR), despite a law ordering its immediate establishment. When questioned about the body, State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said Thursday President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono wondered whether there was sufficient "public support" to establish the commission, which was supposed to have been up and running by April last year.

Under the law, the commission will be tasked with probing past human rights abuses that took place from 1945-2000. Many high level government officials and security chiefs from the New Order era are implicated in these abuses.

The KKR will also seek to draw up a truth-telling mechanism to deal with the perpetrators and compensate the victims of past human rights cases.

Yudhoyono met the KKR selection team on Thursday, more than six months after it screened and submitted 42 candidates to the President. Yudhoyono is supposed to pick 21 names for the commission, a list which will then be sent to the House of Representatives for approval.

However, Yusril said the President still planned to meet the selection team and senior officials one more time to canvas their political support for the commission. The government was also preparing auxiliary regulations to implement the much-debated law, he said.

"The President will try to meet and consult with heads of state institutions, such as the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court on the working mechanism. (He) needs (more) political backing," Yusril said.

He reiterated the President's commitment to establishing the commission. "We are aware that the process is overdue... (but) we are considering the social and political situation. Please understand this," he said.

Human rights observers have criticized the government for delaying the establishment of the commission. They particularly took issue with Kalla's comments on the affair last week.

Comparing the situation at home to that in South Africa, Kalla said there was no need for Indonesia to have such a commission because there were no longer any alleged human rights abuses that needed to be resolved. Kalla also heads the Golkar Party, the home to many former Soeharto loyalists.

Also on Thursday, Yusril announced the President had selected three police experts and three public figures to join a commission tasked with supervising the police. Yusril declined to name the six, pending the issuance of their appointment letters.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adisutjipto, Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin and Home Minister M. Ma'ruf will also sit on the Police Commission.