The Indonesian government’s decision to address serious human rights violations has sparked new hope after years of stalemate.

Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin announced last month his determination to speed up investigations into serious crimes and bring those responsible to justice.

The move is the result of relentless pressure from the Indonesian Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), activists, victims and the public to demand sanctions for past abuses.

For a long time, the government has been accused of deliberately delaying court proceedings in cases that have claimed many lives. Its failure to comply with the Human Rights Tribunal Act 2000 has forged public mistrust of law enforcement.

The law, which was passed shortly after Suharto’s overthrow, mandates the general court to deal with serious human rights cases. It allows the government to reopen crimes committed during Suharto’s 30-year regime and prevent similar abuses from happening again in the future.

Despite the existence of the law, rights violations continue to occur due to poor government. Activists and victims of past crimes have even criticized President Joko Widodo for appointing some military officials allegedly involved in these cases to senior positions in the cabinet. These included Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping of activists in 1998, and Wiranto, the former coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.

The public doubts the government’s seriousness in solving such serious crimes because it fails to even solve some minor cases.

The government’s decision to bestow an honorary award on Eurico Guterres, a former pro-Indonesian militia leader in East Timor’s struggle for independence, also sparked public discontent.

Nonetheless, after years of investigations, the Human Rights Commission has finally determined 13 cases that fall under the category of serious crimes, including the murder of students during anti-Suharto protests in Jakarta as well as the murder of Christians of Aceh and Papuans.

At least 16 civilians were killed when the military attacked the village of Jambo Keupok in Aceh on May 17, 2003, while searching for militias from the Free Movement of Aceh. Voices against the incident were softened when the Helsinki peace accord was signed in 2005 between militias and the Indonesian government. However, the commission urges the government to fix the problem.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) recorded more than 1,300 cases of violence against Acehnese – murders, torture, enforced disappearances and sexual violence – during the military operation in a region that now fully enforces Islamic Sharia law.

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Other incidents on the heinous crimes list are the murder of Papuans in the districts of Wasior, Wamena and Paniai.

The Wasior incident occurred on June 13, 2001, when security forces killed four civilians and tortured 39 others – one was sexually assaulted – when they retaliated against the murder of five police officers from the brigade. mobile who had been hired by a forestry company.

The Wamena incident happened on April 4, 2003 – Good Friday – when the army attacked villages in retaliation for the deaths of two soldiers killed by unknown men. Nine civilians were killed and hundreds fled. Other deaths were reported while in refugee camps.

The public doubts the government’s seriousness in solving such serious crimes because it fails to even solve some minor cases.

However, Mahfud MD, the coordinating minister for politics, law and security affairs, assures the public that the government is not playing games. As proof, the government will begin with the assassination of four young Papuans aged 16 to 18 in Enarotali, the capital of the Paniai district, in December 2014.

The incident began on December 7, the second Sunday in Advent, when a group of young people warned a soldier to turn on the lights in his car. The soldier did not accept the advice and severely beat the students. The news quickly spread to neighboring villages and the next day people flooded the district capital to demand an explanation.

Protesters gathered in Karel Gobai Square, near the police and army headquarters. The protest started to escalate as they threw stones at the military and police because they had not listened to them. The police then opened fire on the crowd, killing four and injuring more than 20.

The government has named the murder of Papuans in the Paniai district as the first case to be resolved

The reason the murder of the young Paniai became a priority was because it was the first serious crime under Widodo’s leadership. He tasked departments and agencies to deal with the problem during his tenure. He wants to keep his promise to settle the case when he attended a Christmas meeting in Jayapura days after the incident.

Widodo was upset when rights groups accused him of doing nothing to solve past crimes despite the odds and instruments available to his administration.

When Indonesia celebrated Widodo’s two years of leadership with Vice President Ma’ruf Amin in October, rights groups again criticized him for his lack of commitment to improving the situation. They said massive attacks on human rights defenders, inaction in the face of rights violations and a continued repressive approach in Papua are evidence of the deterioration of democracy during his second term.

The government has named the murder of Papuans in the Paniai district as the first case to be resolved. He’s got to preach to prove that it’s not an empty promise.

The recent appointment as military chief of General Andika Perkasa, which favors a humanist rather than militarist approach to conflict management, could be beneficial for efforts to interview military personnel allegedly implicated in these violations.

His support for Widodo’s initiatives may be a good opportunity to speed up investigations within an army known for its impunity.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.

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