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Mechanisms to resolve past human rights abuses remain in place: State commissioners
Jakarta Globe - February 3, 2017
Concerns over efforts to settle the decades-old cases have reemerged since Monday, when Chief Security Minister Wiranto reiterated that the incidents will be resolved "by not causing new problems for the nation."
His remarks came shortly after a meeting with National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) representatives, who said there had been no agreement during a meeting on Monday to settle the cases "purely" through national reconciliation.
"It's true that we've been encouraging reconciliation, but it's not true that we'll halt the judicial process," Komnas HAM chairman M. Imdadun Rahmat told the press in Jakarta.
Years of Komnas HAM investigations have resulted in reports on past cases of what it declared gross human rights abuses across Indonesia.
The reported incidents include the 1989 Talangsari massacre, the disappearance of anti-Suharto activists in 1997-98, the Trisakti University shootings, the Semanggi I and Semanggi II shootings in 1998 and 1999, the mysterious killings of alleged criminals in the 1980s, the anticommunist purges of 1965-66 and abuses in Wasior in 2001 and Wamena in 2003.
Komnas HAM previously handed the reports over to the Attorney General's Office for further investigation, but to no avail, due to lasting debate over technical issues.
"Coordination between us and state prosecutors remains on course. Meanwhile, the reconciliation process is also on track," Komnas HAM commissioner Roichatul Aswidah said. "The judicial process can't be interfered with or substituted by the non-judicial process," he added.
The government repeatedly stated last year that the cases would be resolved through national reconciliation, but human rights activists rejected this by saying that it would fail to bring perpetrators to justice and provide legal certainty for victims.
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