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House of Representative refused to deal with the cases of human rights violations in Trisakti and Semanggi

Asian Human Rights Commission Urgent Appeal - March 22, 2007

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the House of Representative of Indonesia (DPR) had informed that the cases of gross human rights violations including killings and disappearances of civilians in Trisakti and Semanggi during 1998 and 1999 will not be heard before the plenary session of the DPR to decide whether the cases should be tried by the ad hoc human rights tribunal. The decision was made at the consultative committee of the DPR on 13 March 2007, following the votes of six not in favour of sending the cases to the plenary session over the four votes in favour. The victims and their families are disappointed about the decision which denies the victims the right to seek justice.

According to the information we have received, on 13 March 2007, at the consultative committee of the House of Representative of Indonesia (DPR), the members of the consultative committee decided that they will not send the cases of human rights violations that occurred in Trisakti and Semanggi during 1998 and 1999 to the plenary session where the decision as to whether the cases of human rights violations should be tried by the ad hoc human rights tribunal or not. The decision was made by the vote of six in favour of not sending the cases to the human rights court while four voted for.

The decision, however, was not surprising due to the fact that both the parliament and attorney general have been refusing to take any action for the investigation into the cases of killings and other gross human rights violations in Trisakti and Semanggi.

In order that the cases of human rights violations that occurred in Trisakti and Semanggi are tried at the ad hoc human rights tribunal, the cases need to be declared as gross human rights violations by the plenary session of the House of Representative.

The victims and their families and local human rights activists have been trying to send the cases of Trisakti and Semanggi to the ad hoc human rights tribunal in order to unearth the truth of the incident and bring the responsible perpetrators before the court.

It has been reported that no investigations have been conducted into the cases of killing, abduction and rapes that happened in Trisakti and Semanggi, and no legal remedies have been awarded to the victims' families. On the contrary, the attempt of the victims' family has been turned down because of the consultative committee's decision on March 13.

The AHRC has reported on several occasions about the injustice in the actions of the state authorities especially the attorney general for not investigating the serious human rights violations during 1998 and 1999. The National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia (Komnas HAM) had conducted an independent investigation into the cases of the killings of Trisakti and Semanggi and submitted its findings to the attorney general in 2002. However the attorney general refused to take any action on the cases on the grounds that the parliament's recommendation stated that the incident in Trisakti and Semanggi during the period of 1998 and 1999 did not constitute gross human rights violations.

The AHRC condemns that the decision made by the DPR as it is against the fact. The concerned incidents are obviously gross human rights violations that involve killings and disappearances of more than a thousand peoples in Trisakti and Semanggi. The government of Indonesia should never be in the position of being allowed to ignore such large scale human rights violations and act in accordance with their obligations to respect the rights of its citizen.

Moreover, we would like to ask the state authorities of Indonesia, especially to the Attorney General that if the government will not take responsibility for conducting investigations into the cases of gross human rights violations then who should be responsible for the role.

The AHRC strongly condemns the series of irresponsible attitudes taken by the state authorities including the attorney general of Indonesia in responding to the voices of the victims' families and international human rights advocates requesting thorough investigations into the cases of human rights violations including extrajudicial killings.

The AHRC therefore demands that the government of Indonesia acts in accordance with the needs of victims and their family and immediately sends the cases of human rights violations to the ad hoc human rights tribunal for justice to the victims and their families. We also demand that they take all necessary actions to ensure the legal remedies that they are entitled to receive. Also the government of Indonesia should act in a manner so as to ensure that they will find out the facts about the incidents.

Furthermore, the AHRC urges the government of Indonesia to ratify the newly introduced International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Background information

For over the last five years the AHRC has reported the injustice of the state authorities of Indonesia for not acting diligently in fulfilling their responsibility to conduct thorough investigation into the killings in Trisakti and Semannggi of 1998 and 1999. To review the details of the original incident, please refer to UA-23-2002 and UP-81-2005.

The government have promised several times that the discussion regarding the killings in Trisakti and Semanggi will be held at the parliament since February 2006, they have not taken any effective actions to inquire individual cases of killings up until now. For more information about the follow ups of the government responses to this case, please see UP-045-2006 and UP-102-2005 in addition to the Urgent Appeals mentioned above.

Suggested action:

Please write a letter to the authorities listed below, demanding immediate intervention into the cases of killings and disappearances occurred in Trisakti and Semanggi during 1998 and 1999. Please also urge them ensure to provide adequate remedies to the victims and their families without further delay.

To support this appeal, please sent the suggested letter below

Dear __________,

Indonesia: House of Representative denied of dealing the cases of human rights violations in Trisakti and Semanggi

I am writing to you to express my deepest concern about the decision made at the consultative committee of the House of Representative of Indonesia (DPR) on 13 March 2007, denying the necessity of sending the cases of human rights violations in Trisakti and Semanggi during 1998 and 1999 to the plenary session of the DPR where make a decision to send the cases to the ad hoc court of human rights.

According to the information I have received, the decision that the cases of gross human rights violations in Trisakti and Semanggi will not be sent to the plenary session of the House of Representative of Indonesia (DPR) was made at the consultative committee's votes of only four in favour to send whereas six voted for not.

I have learned that in order that the cases of gross human rights violations tried by the ad hoc human rights tribunal, the cases need to be approved as gross human rights violations at the plenary session of the DPR. The victims and their families and human rights advocates have been trying to bring these cases happened in Trisakti and Semanggi to the ad hoc human rights tribunal for seeking justice over the individual cases.

It has been reported that no investigations have been conducted into the cases of killing, abduction and rapes happened in Trisakti and Semanggi, and no legal remedies have been awarded to the victims' families yet. On the contrary, the attempt of the victims' family has been turned down because of the consultative committee's decision on March 13.

I have also been informed about the inaction of the state authorities especially the attorney general for not investigating the serious human rights violations during 1998 and 1999.

I have learned that the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia (Komnas HAM) had conducted independent investigation into the cases of the gross human rights violations in Trisakti and Semanggi and submitted its findings to the attorney general in 2002. However, the attorney general refused to take any actions into the concerned cases on the grounds that the parliament's recommendation stated that the incident happened in Trisakti and Semanggi during the period of 1998 and 1999 does not constitute gross human rights violations.

It has also been reported that the Speaker of the House stated that there have not been found any gross human rights violations. In addition, the vice president of Indonesia commented on 16 March 2007, asking the families of the victims to respect the decision of the DPR.

I am very disappointed to learn about the decision that the DPR made regarding the gross human rights violation happened in Trisakti and Semanggi because the decision is just against justice that the victims and their families have been seeking for the last eight years.

It is hard to believe that the state authorities of the country that is also a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council have been denying to admit the large scale human rights violations happened in Trisakti and Semanggi as gross human rights violations and have been trying to escape from the responsibility that they have to the incident.

I therefore demand the government of Indonesia to admit the incident in Trisakti and Semanggi during 1998 and 1999 as gross human rights violations and send the cases immediately to the ad hoc human rights tribunal for revealing the facts about the incident and awarding justice for the victims and their families.

I also demand the government of Indonesia to act in accordance with the needs of victims and their family and take necessary actions to ensure legal remedies that they are entitled to receive. Also The AHRC further calls special attention to you to urge the government of Indonesia for ratifying the newly introduced International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in no longer time.

I look forward to your prompt and effective response in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Please send your letters to:

1. Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudoyono
President
Republic of Indonesia
Presidential Palace
Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara
Jakarta Pusat 10010
INDONESIA
Tel: + 62 21 3845627 ext 1003
Fax: + 62 21 231 41 38, 345 2685, 345 7782

2. Mr. Agung Laksono
Chief of Indonesia House of Representatives
Gedung DPR/MPR RI
Jl. Gatot Subroto No. 6
Jakarta
INDONESIA
Tel: + 62 21 5715509, 5715344, 5715621
Fax: + 62 21 5714469, 5734389

3. Mr. Trimedya Panjaitan
Chairman
Third Commission (Commission on Law and Human Rights)
Indonesia House of Representatives
Gedung DPR/MPR RI
Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto
Jakarta 10270
INDONESIA
Tel: + 62 21 5717769
Fax: + 62 21 571 5532, 5715566

4. Mr. Abdul Rahman Saleh
Attorney General
Kejaksaan Agung RI
Jl. Sultan Hasanuddin No. 1
Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Tel: + 62 21 7221337, 7397602
Fax: + 62 21 7250213
Email: postmaster@kejaksaan.or.id

5. Mr. Hamid Awaluddin
Minister of Justice and Human Rights
JI. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav. 6-7
Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Fax: + 62 21 525 3095

6. Mr. Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara
Chairperson
National Commission on Human Rights KOMNAS HAM
Jl. Latuharhary No. 4B Menteng
Jakarta Pusat 10310
INDONESIA
Tel: + 62 21 3925230
Fax: + 62 21 3151042, 3925227
E-mail: info@komnasham.or.id

7. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Att: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 917 9155
Fax: + 41 22 917 9006 (general)
E-mail: lventre@ohchr.org

Thank you
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)

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