Erick Tanjung, Faqih Fathurrahman – Human rights activists wearing all-black clothing held a "Kamisan Action" opposite Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta on Thursday October 24. This the 837th Kamisan and the first one held in the era of President Prabowo Subianto.
During the action they urged the government to thoroughly investigate all cases of past human rights violations, including the abduction of pro-democracy activists and students in 1998.
One of the pioneers of the Kamisan actions, Maria Catarina Sumarsih, said that Indonesia was now led by the mastermind of the abduction of the '98 activists – Prabowo Subianto. In fact, she said, the 7th President of Indonesia, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, once mentioned that Prabowo was the person who formed a "Rose Team" to abduct the 98 activists.
Therefore, she will not tire of voicing these demands so that the perpetrators of past human rights violations are brought to trial. "We'll see what kind of development there are (in the era of the new regime)", said Sumarsih.
Sumarsih also highlighted the new Human Rights Ministry (HAM) formed by Prabowo. According to Sumarsih, the formation of the new ministry is just a waste of the state budget because gross human rights violations can only be resolved through an independent institution such as the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM).
"The HAM Ministry isn't needed because there are already relevant institutions [that exist] to resolve gross human rights violations", he explained.
During the inaugural action, they also asked Coordinating Minister for Legal Affairs, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra to immediately provide a clarification of his statement in the form of an official statement, which is complete, comprehensive and clear.
Earlier, Mahendra stated that the events in 1998 were not a gross human rights violations and that the last such violations occurred during the colonial period.
In addition, today's action also demanded that the Attorney General immediately form an ad hoc Investigation team into the 1998 events that have already been investigated by Komnas HAM as regulated in Article 21 Paragraph (3) of Law Number 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts.
Notes
Between 1997 and 1998 as many as 23 pro-democracy activists were abducted by members of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) Rose Team. After extended periods of detention – in many cases the victims were severely tortured – most were released although 13 remain missing and are presumed dead. Former Kopassus commander Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto who at the time was President Suharto's son-in-law, has admitted to ordering the abductions but denies ordering their torture and claims they were all released alive and well. Prabowo, who was discharged from the military over the abductions but has never been tried in a court of law, was inaugurated as Indonesia's 8th president on October 20.
- Amnesty doubts Prabowo's commitment to human rights after minister's remarks. CNN Indonesia – October 21, 2024
[Abridged translation by James Balowski based on two articles by Suara.com on October 24. The original title of the lead article was "Aksi Kamisan Perdana Era Presiden Prabowo di Seberang Istana, Ini Harapan Sumarsih".]
