Astrid Felicia Lim, Jakarta – Non-government organisation (NGO) activists from the Committee for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Institute for Public Research and Advocacy (Elsam), the Indonesian Legal Aid Association (PBHI) and the Association of Families of Missing Persons (Ikatan Keluarga Orang Hilang, Ikohi) are again urging the government, the People’s Representative Assembly (DPR) and the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to uncover the [truth behind the] crimes against humanity which occurred in Talangsari, Lampung1, in February 1989.

At a press conference which was held at the Kontras offices on Jalan Cisadane on Monday February 9, the alliance of NGOs also urged President Megawati Sukarnoputri to “de-activate” AM Hendropriyono2 as the head of the State Intelligence Agency in order that the legal processing of the case can go ahead.

Kontras coordinator Usman Hamid said that the victims of the Talangsari incident have repeatedly urged the government, the DPR and Komnas HAM to investigate the Talangsari affair however to date there has no meaningful response.

“As the case has developed, there have been continuous and systematic efforts to weaken [the process of] advocacy through a the process of islah3 and intimidation and terror against the victims and their collogues who want the process of law to go ahead”, he said.

He explained that the efforts to weaken the case were most recently experienced by Kontras and the victims when they held a consolidation in Lampung on February 6 and 7.

Hendardi, the chairperson of PBHI, added that while he understands the process reconciliation though islah which has been carried out, islah cannot be allowed to prevent the enforcement of the law. This is because islah is in the private domain, while the enforcement of the law is in the public domain.

“Islah is in the private domain while the enforcement of the law is in the public domain and must continue to be pushed for and because of this we will never stop demanding it. Whether it be the case of Talangsari, Tanjung Priok4 or other [cases]”, said Hendardi. (gtp)

Notes

1. On February 7, 1989, as many as 100 people were killed when troops surrounded a village in Lampung, South Sumatra, and opened fire and set fire to homes. The government claimed the villagers were members of a “deviant” Muslim sect and that troops were “defending themselves”. Local people assert that the victims were unarmed farmers defending their land which was to be taken over by business person linked to the family of former President Suharto.

2. AM Hendropriyono was formally an officer in the notorious elite special forces Kopassus which were responsible for many of the human rights violations in East Timor and Aceh. He was also the chief of the Jakarta military command and later became the minister for transmigration and resettlement. Hendropriyono was in direct command of the troops which perpetrated the Lampung massacre.

3. Islah – An Islamic reconciliation settlement between the perpetrators and victims of a crime

4. On 12 September 1984, dozens of people were killed and injured when troops fired on Muslim demonstrators in the port district of Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

[Translated by James Balowski.]