Vitorio Mantalean, Bagus Santosa, Jakarta – In the lead up to the end of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration, the Victim's Solidarity Network for Justice (JSKK) says it will stop sending letters to the president containing their hope that he will resolve cases of past gross human rights violations.

At the 836th Kamisan (Thursday) action held on Thursday October 17 in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta, the JSKK said it had sent its last letter to the president.

During the 10 years of Widodo's predecessor president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), Kamisan activists sent 339 letters. During the Widodo administration meanwhile, a total of 479 letters were posted.

JSKK activist Sumarsih stated that the decision to stop sending letters was taken because at this time, the situation was moving away from the ideals and promises of resolving cases of past gross human rights violations as contained in Widodo's vision, mission and action program Nawacita.

In one of the points in the Nawacita during the first term of his administration, Widodo who was then paired with vice president Jusuf Kalla, promised to resolve cases of past gross human rights violations, namely the Semanggi I Tragedy, the Semanggi II Tragedy, the May 1998 riots, the forced disappearance of pro-democracy activists in 1997-98, the Talang Sari Lampung massacre, the Tanjung Priok shootings and the events of 1965.

"Therefore, beginning with next Thursday we will no longer be sending a letter to the president", said Sumarsih.

Although they will stop sending letters to the president, Sumarsih and her colleagues stressed that the Kamisan actions would continue during the next administration of president-elect Prabowo Subianto.

"We state, that with the election of Prabowo as the next president, the state still has an obligation to resolve cases of gross human rights violations", said another Kamisan activist, Yati Andriani.

Andriani, who is a former coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), emphasised that there is no political reason to prevent a full resolution of these cases.

"We are urging that during the Prabowo's administration, Komnas HAM [the National Human Rights Commission] work harder to conduct investigations into gross human rights violations", she added.

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Surat Terakhir Aksi Kamisan untuk Presiden".]

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2024/10/18/11184771/surat-terakhir-aksi-kamisan-untuk-presiden