Sandy Indra Pratama, Jakarta – The families of victims of gross human rights violations are disappointed with the endless foot dragging by the Attorney General and the House of Representatives (DPR) Legal Commission over investigating cases of gross human rights violations. They believe that the Attorney General has betrayed the mandate of his office.

“So it would be better to just remove the Attorney General”, said the coordinator of the Indonesian Association of the Families of Missing Persons (Ikohi), Mugiyanto, during a press conference at the offices of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) on Monday February 12.

According to Mugiyanto, the Attorney General’s argument that there needs to be a prior recommendation from the DPR before being able to conduct an investigation has been contrived to protect certain political interests. This is in contradiction with Law Number 26/2000 on Human Rights Court, meaning the government is not meeting its constitutional obligations.

The families of the victims are asking that there be a meeting between the DPR’s Legal Commission, the Attorney General and the National Human Rights Commission. Mugiyanto said that this meeting would represent a serious effort to seek a solution to the problems of upholding human rights in Indonesia. “Don’t sacrifice us again”, he said.

[Translated by James Balowski.]