Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Despite being a member of the UN Human Rights Council, Indonesia is among those countries that continue to refuse a visit by a UN official responsible for investigating extrajudicial killings.
UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Philip Alston has expressed frustration over the lack of response from countries he believes need to answer questions about alleged extrajudicial killings, including Indonesia, to his requests for access.
"From the perspective of my mandate to respond to alleged killings, the majority of governments are failing the basic test of accountability," Alston was quoted as saying by AP on Saturday.
"If a country has problems of extrajudicial executions and doesn't let (me) in, that should be of concern to the General Assembly and Human Rights Council, but none of those countries are ever really challenged for their failure."
He said this was especially serious for the Human Rights Council members that have failed to respond to his requests – Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – "because the council members are supposed to have said, 'We promise to cooperate fully with the council' as part of being elected."
Many domestic and international parties have accused Indonesia of extrajudicial killings during its contemporary history, including the "mysterious killings" of criminals in the 1980s, the disappearance of political activists in the 1980s and '90s, the Tanjung Priok massacre, Timor Leste killings and the more recent murders of Trisakti university students in 1998 and noted right activist Munir Said Thalib in 2004.
While acknowledging Alston's request for access, the Foreign Ministry's director general for multilateral affairs, Rezlan Izhar Jenie, said Indonesia saw no need for the special rapporteur to visit the country.
"Judging from his mandate, we have not seen the need for him to come because we are still in the process of investigating the matters (extrajudicial killings)," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Rezlan said Indonesia had received numerous UN special rapporteurs on various human rights issues, including United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour and Hina Jilani, the special representative to the UN secretary-general on the situation of human rights defenders.
He added the United Nations special rapporteur on torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak, was scheduled to visit Indonesia in November.
A member of House of Representatives Commission I on security and international affairs, Marzuki Darusman, said most recent killings, including Munir's murder, were still being investigated and thus could not yet be categorized as extrajudicial killings.
"But we do have several extrajudicial killing cases, such as killings during the New Order era, that need to be explained to the international community. I think our slow response has been caused by a lack of clearance on which institution is responsible for the problems, and lack of coordination among government agencies," he told the Post.