Jakarta – Participants of the Kamisan (Thursday) actions in Jakarta are pessimistic that either presidential candidate (capres) is willing to resolve cases of past gross human rights (HAM) violations.
Because of this, they are thinking about going to the polling stations (TPS) but not voting for either one of the candidates.
Peaceful Kamisan actions have been held in front of the State Palace every Thursday since January 18, 2007, by victims and the families of victims of human rights violations in Indonesia.
Kamisan activist Maria Catarina Sumarsih, the mother of Wawan, a victim of the 1998 Semanggi I student shootings, says that incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has played a role in protecting the perpetrators of gross human rights crimes.
For Sumarsih and other Kamisan participants, the presence of former senior military officers who stand accused of responsibility for past rights violations and are now part of the Widodo administration is sufficient evidence that the president has no intention of resolving these cases.
“Pak [Mr] Jokowi is clearly protecting the perpetrators of gross HAM violations”, asserted Sumarsih during a reflection on Kamisan Actions in front of the State Palace on Thursday January 10.
With regard to presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto, Sumarsih reiterated that the former Kopassus (Army Special Forces) commander was directly involved in human rights violations.
These facts have diminished their interest in voting for either candidate in the April 17 presidential election. Given the situation, Sumarsih said that golput [to abstain from voting] is perhaps the best choice. For her, golput is the correct way to provide people with political education.
“If we choose not to vote for either capres, then I think it would be a smart golput”, she said. “[We’ll] go to the TPS, mark both of them [thereby invalidating the vote], and after that go home”.
Another Kamisan activists name Reyhan Togi was of a similar view. The 19-year-old student is convinced that neither of the two presidential tickets is offering any hope of resolving past human rights cases.
Togi said that he doubted that by voting for one of them they will reform or even improve the current situation. “Absolutely not. Perhaps there is still some hope, but only 10 percent”, said Togi.
The Kamisan being held today is the 569th. Sumarsih and the other participants are still faithfully wearing all-black clothing, carrying black umbrellas and standing in front of the State Palace holding up banners demanding that the government resolve past human rights cases.
Today’s Kamisan also took up the issue of the presidential debate which will be held next week. Feni Budiman (24), one of the action coordinators, explained that they were considering holding a public screening (nobar) of the debate.
“Why hold a nobar, to invite people to reflect again, what actually are people’s responses to the momentum of the elections, why are the elections not responding to the ordinary people’s problems”, said Budiman.
The planned public screening will be held at the Jakarta Legal Aid (LBH) office and will be organised after they hold their 570th Kamisan which also marks 12 years since the first Kamisan action was held. (ugo)
Notes
Golput – Golongan Putih or White Movement. The term first emerged as a campaign by students in the 1971 elections and derives its name from marking the white section of the ballot paper rather than a party symbol or candidate’s picture thereby making the vote invalid. In recent years the term has broadened to include not just intentionally casting an invalid vote but also vote abstention.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Peserta Kamisan Pesimistis Capres Tuntaskan Pelanggaran HAM”.]
