Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia believes that the People's Consultative Assembly's (MPR) decision to remove the name of the 2nd President of the Republic of Indonesia Suharto from MPR Decree (TAP MPR) Number 11/1998 on Orders to Organise Clean Governance without Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism (KKN) is a setback for reformasi – the political reform process that began in 1998.
Amnesty International Executive Director Usman Hamid said that to this day, the alleged corruption by Suharto and his cronies has never been fully uncovered or resolved.
"This is a step back for the journey of reformasi. The road to the investigation of corruption crimes, environmental damage and human rights violations over the 32 years that Suharto was in power has not been resolved", said Hamid in a written statement on Thursday September 26.
Hamid said that the MPR has created a bad precedent by opening the way for whitewashing the sins of past rulers.
According to Hamid, this will have an impact on the narrowing of space for civil society movements. In addition to this, it will also narrow the space for victims of past crimes to call for their rights.
He predicts that the policy will narrow civil space for civil society groups active in anti-corruption and for the victims of past human rights violations.
This includes the victims of the massacre of people labelled as Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) supporters in 1965-66, the mysterious shootings (Petrus) in 1982-1985, the 1984 Tanjung Priok incident, the 1989 Lampung massacre, the forced disappearance of pro-democracy activists in 1997-98, the Trisakti Tragedy and the May riots in Jakarta in 1998, through to the victims of the human rights violations when Aceh, West Papua and East Timor were declared Military Operational Areas (DOM).
"Moreover, the MPR's decision also goes hand in hand with the idea of awarding the title of national hero to Suharto. This clearly belittles the victims and families of victims of human rights violations during the Suharto regime who continue to demand justice", said Hamid.
"If it is taken, this clearly has the potential to betray the 1998 reforms, which seeks to guarantee the upholding of political freedoms and social justice", he added.
MPR Speaker Bambang Soesatyo has removed Suharto's name from the TAP MPR Number 11/1998. According to Soesatyo, the MPR Decree is still legally valid but in accordance with the articles in the decree the legal process against Suharto ended following his death in 2008.
Notes
The TAP MPR Number 11/1998, which calls for comprehensive anti-corruption measures to be applied to all current and former officials and specifically names former president Suharto, was passed shortly after the fall of Suharto's New Order regime in 1998. The removal of Suharto's name paves the way for him to be declared a national hero – which sections of the political elite linked to the New Order regime have been pushing for for some time – that was legally blocked by the MPR decree.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Soeharto Dicabut di TAP MPR, Amnesty Nilai Langkah Mundur Reformasi".]
