Merebaknya PERDEBATAN BESAR Sekitar HAM

Kolom IBRAHIM ISA
Jum'at, 17 Agustus 2012
------------------------------

Merebaknya PERDEBATAN BESAR Sekitar PELAKSANAAN HAM Menjelang Ultah Ke-67 PROKLAMASI KEMERDEKAAN INDONESIA

Sebagaimana lazim setiap tahun, Presiden Republik Indonesia, mengucapkan pidato menyambut Hari Ulang Tahun Kemerdekaan Republik Indoneisa, 17 Agustus 1945. Kali ini juga demikian halnya. Presiden SBY telah menyampaikan pidato 17 Agustus-nya, hari ini.

SAYANG, pidato 17 Agustus SBY, sepatah katapun tidak menyinggung, apalagi memberikan solusi terhadap perdebatan penting yang sedang terjadi di dalam masyarakat mengenai sikap terhadap PELANGGARAN HAM BERAT Yang Terjadi Pada “PERISTIWA 1965-1966”. Mengenai situasi HAM di Indonesia, Presiden hanya menyatakan: “Saat ini, stabilitas politik relatif terjaga. Demokrasi dan penghormatan kepada Hak Asasi Manusia dijunjung tinggi. Sejak berabad-abad silam, rumah besar negara kita dihiasi oleh kemajemukan. Kemajemukan merupakan warna tersendiri di dalam potret ke-Indonesiaan.  Kita menghormati dan menghargai keragaman itu dengan memberi ruang dalam payung desentralisasi dan otonomi daerah.” Yah, “. . . . penghormatan kepada Hak Azasi Manusia dijunjungtinggi . . . . ..” .

Padahal, mengenai situasi kegiatan, usaha dan hasil kerja KomnasHam di Indonesia dewasa ini sudah mencapai suatu titik yang KRUSIAL.

Demikian situasi krusial tsb: Di satu fihak seluruh masyarakat nasional dan dunia internasional telah mengetahui bahwa KomnasHAM telah menyelesaikan penyelidikan (23 Juli 2012) atas dugaan terjadinya pelanggaran HAM yang berat dalam peristiwa 1965-1966. Bahwa terdapat bukti permulaan yang cukup untuk menduga terjadinya kejahatan terhadap kemanusiaan sebagai salah satu bentuk pelanggaran hak asasi manusia yang berat.

Dikemukakan dalam kesimpulan KomnasHAM, a.l telah terjadinya pembunuhan; pemusnahan; perbudakan; pengusiran atau pemindahan penduduk secara paksa; perampasan kemerdekaan atau kebebasan fisik lainnya secara sewenang-wenang; penyiksaan, perkosaan atau bentuk-bentuk kekerasan seksual lain yang setara; penganiayaan (persekusi); dan penghilangan orang secara paksa. Dikemukakan juga sejumlah individu dan lembaga yang diduga kuat sebagai pelaku dalam rentetan peristiwa 1965-1966.

* * *

Situasi perjuangan sekitar masalah (pelanggaran berat) HAM di Indonesia menjadi gawat, karena sebelumnya Presiden diberitakan bersedia atau berniat untuk MINTA MAAF KEPADA PARA KORBAN Peristiwa 1965-66. Dengan judul “PRESIDEN SBY SIAP MINTA MAAF”, disiarkan sbb: - Wakil Menteri Hukum dan Hak Asasi Manusia, Denny Indrayana, mengatakan, Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sudah siap menyelesaikan kasus-kasus pelanggaran hak asasi manusia. Bahkan pernah juga dibahas Presiden bersedia meminta maaf, namun syaratnya kasus ini diselesaikan telebih dahulu.

KomnasHAM Perempuan dalam pernyataannya dengan tegas dan jelas sekali mengemukakan bahwa sudah SAATNYA BERTINDAK Untuk Pemulihan Hak-Hak Korban Pelanggaran HAM yang Berat Peristiwa 1965-1966. Selanjutnya ditandaskan oleh KomnasHam Perempuan, a.l sbb: Komisi Nasional Anti Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan (Komnas Perempuan) mengajak semua pihak untuk menyambut baik laporan hasil penyelidikan Komisi Hak Azasi Manusia (Komnas HAM) tentang Pelanggaran HAM yang Berat Peristiwa 1965-1966 sebagai terobosan penting dalam upaya pengungkapan kebenaran. Laporan ini telah lama ditunggu oleh komunitas korban yang berjuang untuk memperoleh hak atas kebenaran, keadilan dan pemulihan. Juga, oleh masyarakat Indonesia yang menginginkan jaminan kepastian hukum bagi setiap warga negara dan bahwa tragedi kemanusiaan 1965-1966 tidak berulang di masa mendatang.

Komnas Perempuan mendorong Lembaga Perlindungan Saksi dan Korban (LPSK) mengambil langkah proaktif memperkuat inisiatifnya dalam memberikan perlindungan dan dukungan bagi saksi dan korban Peristiwa 1965-1966. Inisiatif tersebut perlu diperluas agar (a) tidak terbatas pada skema bantuan, kompensasi, dan restitusi yang telah ada, (b) untuk mencakup pula keluarga korban, dan (c) dengan memperhatikan kekhasan kebutuhan perempuan.

Komnas Perempuan menegaskan bahwa seluruh langkah-langkah tersebut di atas bermakna besar bagi korban dan keluarganya yang selama ini telah berjuang dan bertahan hidup dalam kekerasan dan diskriminasi. Juga, untuk merawat cita-cita Indonesia untuk menjadi negara bangsa yang berperikemanusiaan dan perikeadilan.

Media Indonesia dan mancanegara, mencerminkan dan memanifestasikan semangat dan hasrat pejuang-pejuang HAM baik yang di Indonesia mauun di dunia internasional, dengan lega dan optimis menyambut perkembangan baru dalam perjuangn dan kegiatan pemberlakuan HAM di Indonesia. Seperti bisa ditarik kesimpulan dari diumumkannya laporam KomnasHam tertanggal 23 Juli 2012.

* * *

Tetapi, kemajuan yang dicapai dalam usaha HAM itu tidak bisa diterima oleh mereka-mereka yang menentang dan merintangi tercapainya keadilan bagi para korban pelanggaran HAM terbesar pada Perisitiwa 1965-66-67. Mereka tidak rela, diungkapkannya kejahatan kemanusiaan serta diadilinya para pelaku, dalam Peristiwa 1965-66 dengan terbunuhnya 300.000 sampai sekitar 3 juta warga tidak bersalah. Mereka tampil dengan pelbagai selubung dan dalih. Kita ikuti alasan dan dalih yang mereka kemukakan:

-- Kompas memberitakan bahwa, Pengurus Besar Nadhlatul Ulama (PBNU) dengan didukung kalangan purnawirawan TNI Angkatan Darat dan ormas menolak keras segala bentuk permintaan maaf dari pemerintah/Presiden Republik Indonesia terhadap korban tragedi 1965-1966. Wakil Sekjen PBNU As'ad Said Ali berucap, bahwa, sebagai bangsa lebih baik jika peristiwa tragedi kemanusiaan 1965 dilupakan. Ia menambahkan bahwa kita harus "Mewaspadai Kebangkitan PKI"

-- "Kita ini kan bangsa, sudah lupakan saja," kata As'ad. "Minta maaf berarti yang lain akan menuntut juga untuk maaf. Kapan selesainya? Malah repot nanti. Sudah lupakan," tambah As'ad.

-- As'ad Said Ali mengungkapkan, NU melupakan tragedi 1965 sebagai bentuk bahwa NU berjiwa besar. NU tidak mengungkit masalah pembunuhan oleh PKI di tahun 1948 di Madiun karena melupakan dan memberikan maaf agar pembagunan karakter bangsa ke depan menjadi lebih baik.

"Kami bersikap sebagai bentuk dari berjiwa besar karena kami memegang saham di republik ini. Kami yang mendirkan republik ini. Kalau permintaan maaf dilakukan maka bangsa ini akan terus berantem," tegasnya. "NU tidak mendorong ke pengadilan karena tidak ingin mengungkit masalah yang lalu-lalu. Orang kita, kiai dibunuh PKI, kita juga tidak menuntut," tambahnya.

-- Wakil Ketua DPR RI Priyo Budi Santoso, menyatakan bahwa membuka kasus pelanggaran HAM pada masa lalu tidak akan menyelesaikan masalah. "Nanti zaman Ken Arok juga diungkit," ujar Priyo.

Namun dalih Wakil Ketua DPR Priyo, juga dalih Wakil Sekjen PB NU itu segera disanggah oleh Koordinator Kontras. sbb:

-- Koordinator Kontras Haris Azhar mengecam apa yang disampaikan Priyo. Haris Azhar menegaskan bahwa membuka sejarah lama itu penting untuk membangun garis batas, apa yang salah atau tidak dari pelanggaran HAM masa lalu."Siapa yang salah, dan siapa yang tidak salah di masa lalu harus jelas".

-- Tanpa tedeng aling-aling Haris Azhar tunjuk hidung dengan mengungkap bahwa "Priyo bicara seperti itu karena dia dari Golkar, partai yang selama Orde Baru berkontribusi dalam banyak pelanggaran HAM. Dia mewakili kepentingan Golkar untuk diselamatkan dari penghukumannya atas kesalahan di masa lalu."

-- Koordinator Komisi Untuk Orang Hilang dan Korban Tindak Kekerasan (Kontras) Haris Azhar tak setuju dengan sikap PBNU. Menurutnya, kasus antara pembunuhan anggota NU dengan pembantaian PKI adalah dua hal yang berbeda. “Pembunuhan orang NU adalah hukum pidana karena konflik horizontal, sedangkan pembantaian PKI adalah perintah negara, jadi ada konflik vertikal,” kata Haris.

-- Koordinator Kontras, Haris Azhar, juga mendesak pemerintah untuk mengambil langkah proaktif untuk mendorong dan memfasilitasi serta membuat kebijakan penyelesaian kasus pelanggaran HAM. Penyelesaian kasus ini, kata Haris juga dapat dilakukan dengan peningkatan akuntabilitas penegakan hukum. Serta, adanya jaminan pencegahan keberulangan di masa depan dengan penghapusan kebijakan yang diskriminatif.

-- Tokoh yang disebut “Angkatan 66”, yang aktif dalam persekusi Jendral Suharto terhadap PKI dan golongan Kiri serta dalam menggulingkan Presiden Sukarno, Cosmos Batubara dan Harjono Kartohadiprodjo, juga menyerukan kewaspadaan terhadap “bangkitnya ideologi komunis dan organisasi pendukungnya.”

Terhadap seruan sumbang untuk “waspada terhadap bangkitnya ideologi komunis dan orgnaisasi pendukungnya, GOENAWAN MOHAMAD, menyatakan di Facebook, sbb: Saya tak menduga masih ada orang-orang generasi 1966 yang tidak hidup di tahun 2012: -- isi kepala mereka jadi batu dan hati mereka jadi gaplek.

* * *

Perdebatan besar yang terjadi menjelang Hari Kemerdekaan Indonesia, di masyarakat Indonesia sekitar pengungkapan PELANGGARAN HAM BERAT DALAM PERISTIWA 1965, menunjukkan bahwa perjuangan untuk PEMBERLAKUAN HAM di negeri kita, masih jauh dari selesai. Perjuangan ini akan berjalan terus dan masih akan mengarungi lika-liku dan kendala dari para penentang pemberlakuan HAM, KEBENARAN DAN KEADILAN di negeri kita.

Bahwa dalam pidato Presiden SBY menyambut Ultah ke-67 Kemerdekaan Indonesia, masalah pemberlakuan HAM di Indonesia dan perdebatan besar yang terjadi di sekitar masalah itu, samasekali tidak disinggung, sungguh amat disesalkan!

* * *

Kolom IBRAHIM ISA
Senin, 06 Agustus 2012
------------------------------

 

Menjelang LEBARAN (Tradisi Saling Bermaafan . . . . )
Tapi . . . SBY Diminta JANGAN MINTA MAAF . . . .
Suatu TABIR ASAP BELAKA . . . . .

Peristiwa penting dan merupakan 'breaking news', sekaligus penjebolan terhadap “misteri”
dan “tabu” sekitar pelanggaran HAM besar-besaran dan berat dalam “Peristiwa 1965-66” . . ...

. , adalah Kesimpulan/laporan KomnasHAM tertanggal 23 Juli 2012.

KomnasHAM adalah sebuah lembaga yang didirikan oleh negara untuk mendorong pemberlakuan HAM di negeri kita, untuk tegaknya supremasi hukum. Kita ambil saja tiga fasal dari tujuan yang dinyatakan oleh KomanasHAM sebagai tujuan strategisnya, sbb:

Tujuan Strategis

1. Mendorong terwujudnya kebijakan dan implementasi di bidang ekosob dan sipol yang berbasis HAM dan keadilan social (social justice);
2. Memperkuat kesadaran aparat Negara dan civil society tentang pentingnya perlindungan dan pemajuan HAM;
3.Mendorong reformasi dan supremasi hokum berbasis HAM;

Adalah lembaga KomnasHAM ini yang mengambil kesimpulan teramat penting, --- setelah 4 tahun lamanya tertunda-tunda akibat cara diskusi yang berketiak-ular, sebagai akibat digunakannya taktik mengulur-ulur waktu, untuk mengagalkan samasekali diambilnya kesimpulan sekitar pelanggaran HAM berat dalam periode 1965-66 dst.

Sebelumnya, Tim Ad Hoc Penyelidikan Pelanggaran HAM Berat Peristiwa 1965--1966 setelah melakukan pekerjaannya selama empat tahun, menyimpulkan bahwa adanya dugaan pelanggaran tersebut benar terjadi.
Komnas HAM meminta Jaksa Agung untuk memulai penyelidikan resmi berdasarkan temuan dan untuk membentuk Pengadilan HAM "ad hoc" untuk membawa pelaku ke pengadilan sebagaimana diatur UU Pengadilan HAM.

* * *

Duduk perkaranya jelas: Masalahnya ialah pelanggaran HAM berat sekitar Peristiwa 1965. Pelakunnya adalah aparat negara, dng keterlibatan sementara fihak. Tuntutannya jelas pula: Agar Jaksa Agung mulai melakukan penyeledikan resmi berdasarkan temuan dan membentuk Pengadilan HAM “ad hoc” UNTUK MEMBAWA PELAKU.

* * *

“Tabuhan genderang perang ala Orba” yang disulut sementara orang di bawah bendera 'anti-Komunis” di kota Bandung, beberapa hari yang lalu, adalah manifestasi paniknya pahlawan-pahlawan “Perang Dingin”, yang meneriakkan semboyan usang 'awas komunisme'. Desakan mereka-mereka itu kepada Presiden SBY agar JANGAN MINTA MAAF kepada para korban pelanggaran HAM berat 1965, adalah tabir asap belaka.

Hiruk-pikuk mendesak SBY supaya JANGAN MINTA MAAF kepada para korban pelanggaran HAM berat sekitar Peristiwa 1965, sesungguhnya adalah PENOLAKAN TERHADAP KESIMPULAN KOMNASHAM 23 Juli 2012.

Mereka-mereka itu, . . . . mulai dari salah seorang petinggi Kejaksaan Agung, termasuk Wakil Ketua DPR Priyo Budi Santoso, mantan gubernur Solihin, dan pejabat-pejabat birokrasi lainnya serta yang mengatasnamakan golongan agama, sudah merasa gelisah dan kecut dengan ditembusnya 'misteri' dan 'tabu' sekitar Peristiwa 1965. Mereka sudah merasakan 'bara api kebenaran” yang mulai marak di kalangan masyarakat sampai ke lembaga negara seperti KomnasHAM.

Dengan pengumuman kesimpulan KomnasHAM sekitar pelanggaran berat HAM oleh aparat negara, terhadap warga yang tidak bersalah, hancur-luluhlah kebohongan mereka bahwa kekerasan yang berlaku pada periode itu adalah suatu “konflik di kalangan rakyat”, adalah “sebagai akibat dari balas dendam golongan agama terhadap PKI yang tidak bertuhan”, dan kebohongan-kebohongan lainnya . . . . . .

“Misteri” dan “tabu” sekitar persekusi dan pembantaian masal terhadap warganegara tak bersalah, dengan dalih terlibat atau ada indikasi terlibat dengan G30S, dan terhadap lapisan luas massa rakyat yang mendukung Presiden Sukarno, -- telah berakhir dengan diumumkannya Kesimpulan KomnasHAM tertanggal 23 Juli, a.l bahwa:

“Tim Ad Hoc Penyelidikan Pelanggaran HAM yang berat Peristiwa 1965-1966
menjalankan mandatnya sejak 1 Juni 2008 sampai dengan 30 April 2012. Dalam
menjalankan mandatnya, tim ad hoc telah menerima sejumlah pengaduan dari
masyarakat serta melakukan pemeriksaan terhadap saksi/korban sebanyak *349
(tiga ratus empat puluh sembilan)* orang. Tim juga telah melakukan
peninjauan secara langsung ke sejumlah daerah dalam rangka pelaksanaan
penyelidikan.”

Selanjutnya:

Komnas HAM telah menyelesaikan penyelidikan atas dugaan terjadinya pelanggaran HAM yang berat dalam peristiwa 1965-1966. Bahwa terdapat bukti permulaan yang cukup untuk menduga terjadinya kejahatan terhadap kemanusiaan sebagai salah satu bentuk pelanggaran hak asasi manusia yang berat.

Dikemukakan dalam kesimpulan KomnasHAM, a.l telah terjadinya pembunuhan; pemusnahan; perbudakan; pengusiran atau pemindahan penduduk secara paksa; perampasan kemerdekaan atau kebebasan fisik lainnya secara sewenang-wenang; penyiksaan, perkosaan atau bentuk-bentuk kekerasan seksual lain yang setara; penganiayaan (persekusi); dan penghilangan orang secara paksa. Dikemukakan juga sejumlah individu dan lembaga yang diduga kuat sebagai pelaku dalam rentetan peristiwa 1965-1966.

* * *

Perkembangan kesadaran berbagai lapisan masyrakat sekitar pelanggaran HAM berat sekitar Peristiwa 1965, sudah tidak bisa dibendung lagi. Cara apapun yang akan digunakan untuk menyetop perkembangan ini.

* * *

Dalam salah satu percakapan serius baru-baru ini dengan salah seorang cendekiawan asing pemerhati dan pemeduli Indonesia, kawan ini menyatakan kepadaku sbb: Sampai sekarang mereka-mereka yang melakukan pelanggaran HAM berat sekitar periode1965 itu, SATUPUN TIDAK ADA YANG MERASA BERSALAH.

Mungkin demikianlah situasinya: Tetapi kataku kepada kawan asing tsb: Barangkali ada pengecualian. Yaitu : GUS DUR dan Jendral SARWO EDHIE. Yang pertama adalah pimpinan NU dan tokoh agama penting lagipula mantan Presiden RI. Yang seorang lagi adalah mantan Jendral Komandan Kostrad, yang ambil bagian penting dalam menggulingkan Presiden Sukarno dan persekusi terhadap rakyat yang tak bersalah.

Dua-dua tokh ini, sudah menyatakan penyesalannya. Gus Dur malah sudah minta maaf atas keterlibatan orang-orang NU dan pemuda-pemuda Anshor dalam pembantaian terhadap orang-orang PKI dalam periode 1965-66 di Jawa Timur.

Ya, kata kawan itu, tetapi baik Gus Dur maupun mantan Jendral Sarwo Edhie, yang adalah mertua Presiden SBY itu, dua-duanya sudah meninggal dunia.
Mantan Presiden Suharto, pelakku/penanggung-jawab pelanggara HAM berat itu, juga sudah meninggal dunia, kataku.

Tetapi, sama halnya, seperti apa yang terjadi di mancanegara, a.l di Argentina, Chili, Afrika Selatan dll, pelanggar HAM berat tidak akan bisa selamanya luput dari berlakunya kebenaran. Mereka-mereka itu tidak akan bisa selamanya bebas dari pemberlakukan PROSES KEADILAN NEGARA HUKUM.

Akhirnya mereka-mereka itu, pada gilirannya akan diseret ke mahkamah pengadilan.

* * *

The breaking up of the “TABU" AND "MISTERY"

Kolom IBRAHIM ISA

Thursday, August 02, 2012

----------------------------------

Indeed, a "Breaking And Encouraging News"

To

Yvette Lawson (Amnesty International - The Netherlands),

Coen Holtzappel (Chairman St. Wertheim) and

Laura Haig (AI - London),

Indeed, a "breaking and encouraging news", --- finally the KomnasHAM has taken the long awaited VERY IMPORTANT step:

The breaking up of the “TABU" AND "MISTERY", and OPENING UP THE 1965 MOST SERIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS SO FAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA.

Following this -- -The concerned authorities, the Attorney General and the President – should act for the solution of the above mentioned Human Rights Violations.

We should congratulate the KomnasHAM for their resolute and brave action of publishing their final report on the gross violation of Human Rights by the Indonesian military and police and their supporters, against 500.000 up to three million innocent people of Indonesia, in the period ending 1965, further in 1966, and continued until the end of the New Order regime of President Suharto.

We should also congratulate and support the agenda of the AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, Londonm, for activities, a.o. : --------------

"To write a letter to the Indonesian Attorney General in the coming weeks to urge him to act on the report".

Let us advise the AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, London and The Netherlands TO

DOUBLE AND TRIPLE THEIR ACTIVITIES FOR THE CAUSE OF THE VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VOLATION IN INDONESIA; AND INCREASE THEIR COOPERATION AND COORDINATION WITH INDONESIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACITIVISTS AND ORGANIZATIONS!!

Amsterdam, August 02, 2012

Ibrahim Isa

Publisher

Secretary of Stichting Wertheim, Amsterdam

* * *

News from Yvette Lawson:

Hai Coen,

onderstaand bericht wilde ik je niet onthouden.

Hoop dat alles goed gaat met jullie in Duitsland,

hartelijke groet,

Yvette

Yvette Lawson coordinator Asia Amnesty International-Netherlands PO Box 1968

1000 BZ AmsterdamThe Netherlands

tel: + 31 20 6264436 ext. 789 (Tue. and Thursday morning)

fax: + 31 20 6240889

email:

----- Forwarded by Yvette Lawson/NL/Amnesty International on 23/07/2012

From: Laura Haigh/I.S./Amnesty International@INTSEC

To: Yvette Lawson/NL/Amnesty International@Netherlands,

Cc: Josef Benedict/I.S./Amnesty International Date: 23/07/2012

Subject: Jakarta Post: Komnas HAM declares 1965 purge a gross human rights violation

Hi Yvette,

I'm sure you'll have seen this already, but wanted to forward a Jakarta

Post article on the Komnas HAM '65 report which was submitted to the AG

today. We are planning to write a letter to the AG in the coming weeks to

urge him to act on the report. Will keep you updated.

Best wishes from a gloriously sunny London,

Laura

* * *

Komnas HAM Declares 1965 Purge a Gross Human Rights Violation

Margareth S. Aritonang, The Jakarta Post, July 23 2012,

Justice delayed is justice denied: Nur Kholis (center), the head of the

investigation team working under the National Human Rights Commission

(Komnas HAM), displays evidence on Monday that confirms military

officials’ involvement in the killings of at least 500,000 members of the

Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) during the 1960s and 1970s. The team has

urged the government to prosecute relevant military officials, who worked

under the command of late former president Soeharto, and to deliver an

official apology and rehabilitation to the victims and their families.

(JP/Jerry Adiguna)

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has declared in its

findings on Monday that the systematic prosecution of alleged members of

the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) after the failed 1965 coup was a

gross human rights violation. The commission urged that military officials

who were involved in the purge be brought to trial.

Nur Kholis, the head of the investigative team on the 1965 coup, said that

state officials under the Operational Command for the Restoration of

Security and Order (Kopkamtib) led by former president Soeharto who served

from 1965 to 1967, and between 1977 and 1978, should be taken to court for

various crimes, including mass rape, torture and killings.

Nur Kholis said that his team had handed over the 850-page report to the

Attorney General’s Office (AGO). “We hope that the AGO will follow up the

report,” he said.

During more than three years of investigation, the team had gathered

testimony from 349 witnesses.

Nur Kholis said that military officials had deliberately targeted innocent

civilians during the operations, which occurred nationwide. “Many of the

victims had nothing to do with the communist party or its subordinates.

The military officials made it look like those people were linked to the

party,” he said.

After the Sept. 30, 1965 movement, thousands of people, some estimate as

many as 500,000, who were suspected of being PKI members were killed. Many

more were imprisoned for years without charge.

The discrimination against people associated with the PKI continued with

the government barring them from being civil servants, military officers,

teachers or clerics. Former members of PKI also found it hard to get jobs

due to the ex-political prisoner status on their identity cards.

In 2004, the Constitutional Court ruled that ex-members of PKI were

allowed to contest elections. Two years later, the government deleted the

ex-prisoner label from identity cards.

Nur Kholis said that the team demanded the government issue a formal

apology to victims and their families. The apology should be followed by

rehabilitation, reparation and compensation.

The Murder Victim’s Research Foundation (YPKP) said that the late former

president Soeharto was the person most responsible for the crimes.

However, the fact that he had passed away should not deter the AGO from

investigating the case. YPKP said that several other perpetrators remained

alive. (fzm/lfr)

* * *

ON INDONESIA'S HUMAN RIGHTS CONDITIONS

IBRAHIM ISA'S FOCUS ---

ON INDONESIA'S HUMAN RIGHTS CONDITIONS

Thursday, August 02, 2012

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Indonesia’s Collective Amnesia

Indonesia Faces Up to 1965

Attorney General Office: No Prosecutions On 1965 Violations

Amnesty International: Past rights abuse may hinder RI’s global role

Memories of ‘Petrus’ resurface after three decades

Amnesty International condemns police brutality

Is this the beginning of the end for our civil liberties?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesia’s Collective Amnesia

Endy Bayuni, Jakarta | Opinion | Wed, August 01 2012,

Last week, the National Commission on Human Rights, an independent state body, released its findings from a four-year investigation into the 1965 purge of suspected communists.
The commission concludes that the Army-led campaign amounted to a gross violation of human rights. It urged the government to prosecute the perpetrators and compensate victims and survivors. It also called upon President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to issue a public apology.

But the report failed to generate much public interest, if the reaction of the country’s major newspapers is any indication. They either ignored the story or buried it in the inside pages — which made for a jarring contrast to the hysterical headlines devoted to shooting in faraway Denver recently. But then the mainstream media have always been complicit in the conspiracy of silence over the killings, whether knowingly or out of ignorance.

The killing campaign in 1965 and 1966 was unleashed after an abortive coup against president Sukarno in October 1965 that the Army blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Although the massacre happened on Sukarno’s watch, he had by then become a lame-duck president.
The report instead put the blame squarely on the Command for the Restoration of Security and Order led by Gen. Soeharto, who went on to become president in 1967. The commission’s recommendation only says that those most responsible should be prosecuted, though it gives no specific names.

In spite of its massive scale, the killing campaign has been shrouded in mystery. No one — the Human Rights Commission included — has ever been able to put a figure on how many were killed. Estimates range from a conservative 200,000 to as many as 3 million, a figure once boastingly cited by Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, who headed the military campaign at the time as chief of the Army’s Special Forces.

The Soeharto regime banned any discussion of the entire episode, including the massacre and the circumstances surrounding the transfer of power. For more than three decades, only the military’s version of history was allowed to circulate. The veil of silence was lifted only some years after Soeharto stepped down in 1998.

Official history books today still treat the episode as an attempt by the PKI, then the world’s largest communist party in a non-communist state, to grab power. They make no mention of the ensuing massacre of party members, their sympathizers and relatives, and even many innocent bystanders, or the harsh treatments meted out to the survivors in the aftermath of the killings.

The report, the most detailed study ever carried out on the massacre, lists the types of crimes committed, including murder, slavery, forced disappearances, limits to physical freedom, torture, rape, persecution and forced prostitution. It also says the killing was widespread across most major islands in the archipelago, and not confined to Java, Sumatra and Bali, as had been widely believed. The study also identified at least 17 mass graves where the victims were buried.

Although Indonesians who went through the period are aware of the killings, most have turned a blind eye, and many have even managed to erase them from memory. They accepted the official version that the military had saved Indonesia from communism, and, by logical conclusion, that Soeharto and his military cohorts were the heroes of the day.

Time will tell how far the report will go to break these long years of the conspiracy of silence about the killings, and whether it will succeed in jolting the nation out of its collective amnesia. The report also calls for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission to look into the tragedy.

Scholars attempting to study the killings say that many of the perpetrators and the surviving victims have refused to be interviewed for events that they said were too traumatic to recount. A few, however, have been brave enough to break their silence, as captured in the film documentary 40 Years of Silence — An Indonesian Tragedy.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, for whom the report was prepared, responded positively by ordering the office of the attorney general to look into the recommendations, including considering the prosecution of those most responsible for the killings. His office has also said that the President is considering an official apology on behalf of the state for all the human rights violations committed against its own citizens.

All the key players in the killing campaign, however, are dead: Soeharto died in 2008, his deputy Adm. Sudomo this past April, and Sarwo Edhie, in 1989. It will be interesting to see how far the Indonesian Military, or Yudhoyono for that matter, are prepared to see their seniors tried in absentia or be dragged through the dirt in the event that the truth and reconciliation commission is formed. Yudhoyono, a military general himself, is the son-in-law of Sarwo Edhie.

Many human rights activists have their doubts. They note that a report by the same commission about the mass rape of Chinese-Indonesians during rioting in 1998 never received any follow-up from the office of the attorney general.
The release of the report was hailed as a milestone by a handful of victims and survivors who had been seeking justice all these years. For most Indonesians, it was a non-event.

In one of the rare public reactions to the report, Priyo Budi Santoso, a senior politician from the Golkar Party, said that wallowing in the past was unproductive for the nation.
“It is better if we move forward,” said Priyo, whose party provided the political machine that sustained Soeharto in power for more than three decades.

Tragically, he probably spoke for most of the people in this country.
Anyone wondering why the systemic culture of impunity, and with it the culture of violence, are so notoriously strong in Indonesia, may have found the answer this week. They are deeply embedded, along with the nation’s collective amnesia.
The writer is senior editor of The Jakarta Post. This article first appeared in the Transitions section of Foreign Policy magazine’s website transitions.foreignpolicy.com.
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Indonesia Faces Up to 1965

By A. Lin Neumann ,Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Now it can be discussed

An official commission finally looks at the massacres that ushered Suharto into power

We hear a lot about the greatness that is just around the corner for Indonesia, and much of it rings true. There is a palpable sense of becoming in the air, as if the country has woken up from a long slumber and is finally finding its way. “There is just a bit more swagger in our step,” one wealthy young businessman told me recently. Much of this, of course, is down to a huge domestic market with sufficient buying power to insulate the country somewhat from the shocks that are battering Europe, the US and parts of Asia.

But there is more to greatness than rising GDP and tall buildings. Part of any nation’s greatness is surely the ability to come to grips with its own history. By this measure, Indonesia’s official blindness over the events of 1965 has fallen far short.

That may be changing. Last week, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) declared after a four-year investigation that the persecution and murders of alleged communists after a botched 1965 coup was a gross human rights violation. The body noted incidents of murder, slavery, forced eviction, torture, rape and other abuses committed by the military in the name of fighting communism.

The commission shied away from naming names but it did say that military officers from the time should stand trial, if any of them are still alive. The agency at the center of the killings, the commission concluded, was the shadowy Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order (Kopkamtib), which then-Gen. Suharto himself commanded from 1965 to 1967 and used as a vehicle for his rise to power.

For some perplexing reason, most Western news agencies based in Jakarta ignored the report when it was released last week. They reasoned it was old news, one editor said. In the words of one prematurely cynical young foreign correspondent with little experience in Asia, “Nothing will happen anyway.”

In my view, the report is a major step forward for Indonesia, marking the first time the country has come close to opening an official dialogue of any kind on a bloodbath that set villager against villager in an orgy of violence that reshaped the country’s politics for more than a generation. It may not result in court trials but it should at least remove the cloak of silence from a national tragedy.

One of the report’s authors, Nur Kholis, the vice chairperson of Komnas Ham, described for me last week a painstaking process over four years of going from village to village in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Bali, Java and elsewhere to meet with survivors and victims. The commission not only found evidence of mass murder but also documented cases of accused leftists who were rounded up and kept in conditions of slavery for nearly a decade at numerous prison camps. Indeed, it was not until this century that those who were imprisoned at the time had their full citizenship rights restored.

It was all done, Nur Kholis recounted, with the cold precision of a military operation. There were lists of supposed communists in the hands of soldiers who would enter villages and oversee the killing. Often neighbors would point out neighbors who would subsequently be hauled away or simply executed. “We owe it to the victims,” he said quietly. “They deserve some justice.”

Nur Kholis and others hope that the report and its aftermath will begin a process of healing that the country has so far avoided. Coming as it did during the Cold War, with the escalation of US involvement beginning in Vietnam, the interest shown by the CIA and other Western powers in the events of 1965 has been well documented. With Indonesia now a rising power, perhaps the nation can finally come to terms with its dark history.

The details of the supposed communist “coup” attempt that led to the violence that killed hundreds of thousands of people – estimates vary from 300,000 to 3 million   have been obscured and covered up for decades, despite the horrors of the brutality. Officially, the coup attempt, which claimed the lives of six top generals in the early morning hours of Oct. 1, 1965, was blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party, which was close to Sukarno at the time. The subsequent massacres of alleged leftists – many of them no more than illiterate villagers   has never been officially explained. Suharto took full control of the country from Sukarno in 1967 – after the massacres were largely completed.

In a 1978 article in the New York Review of Books regarding 1965, Cornell University scholars Benedict Anderson and Ruth McVey cite an internal report made by the CIA on the events that swept over Indonesia that year.

“In terms of the numbers killed, the anti-PKI [Indonesian Communist Party] massacres in Indonesia rank as one of the worst mass murders of the twentieth century, along with the Soviet purges of the 1930s, the Nazi mass murders during the Second World War, and the Maoist bloodbath of the early 1950s,” the CIA report concluded. “In this regard, the Indonesian coup is certainly one of the most significant events of the twentieth century, far more significant than many other events that have received much more publicity.”

Despite the fact, about all that most people here seem to have been told is that Sukarno was followed by Gen. Suharto and the New Order regime and the whole thing was kind of messy. The events of 1965, beyond the deaths of the six generals, are not taught in schools here. The dead generals are treated as national heroes.

In ordering the Attorney General’s Office to follow up on the commission’s conclusions, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose own father-in-law served as a general in the armed forces during the time of the purges, set the legal process in motion and made good on his frequent talk of national reconciliation. In citing the need for a “just, factual, smart and constructive settlement,” Yudhoyono noted the experiences of South Africa, Cambodia and other countries that have had to contend with a dark and violent legacy.

Indonesia is no longer the perilous place it was for the first five decades after independence. Government power now changes hands peacefully and democratically, which allows the economy and the people to prosper. The many problems the country faces are discussed openly in the media.

Coming to grips with history can be unsettling. But the Komnas HAM report could spur the kind of national introspection that will deepen Indonesia’s understanding of itself. And out of that process, a measure of greatness might emerge.

(A. Lin Neumann is a co-founder of Asia Sentinel and is the host of Insight Indonesia, a talk show on BeritaSatu TV in Jakarta. A version of this article appeared in the Jakarta Globe.)

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Attorney General Office: No Prosecutions On 1965 Violations

The Jakarta Post | National | Wed, August 01 2012,

Despite a recommendation from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to follow up on the 1965 rights violations, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) says it is unlikely any cases will be brought to court.
Deputy Attorney General Darmono said the 1965 human rights violations cases would instead be settled through reconciliation or out-of-court settlements.
“Reconciliation is the preferred option as long as there is hard evidence,” Darmono said late on Monday as quoted by Antara news agency.

Concluding its four-year inquiry into the 1965 purge following the alleged abortive coup by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), Komnas HAM declared that gross human rights violations did take place.
Komnas HAM demanded that the AGO begin an official investigation as a follow-up to the commission’s inquiry. Darmono argued that the 1965 rights violations could not be settled in an ad hoc human rights court as stipulated in Law No. 26/2000 on human rights courts.
“The [human rights] cases from Timor Leste and Tanjung Priok are exceptions,” he added.
“The 1965 rights violations are beyond [the scope of] the existing law,” he said.
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Amnesty International:

Past rights abuse may hinder RI’s global role

Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Fri, May 13 2011,

Indonesia is risking its potential international role should the government fail to resolve past human rights cases and end all manner of torture, ill-treatment and discrimination, UK-based human rights organization Amnesty International says.
“It will be much more difficult for Indonesia to play a leading role, particularly on human rights issues, if it does not get its own house in order,” Josef Roy Benedict, Amnesty’s campaigner for Indonesia, said during an interview with The Jakarta Post on Friday.
“If the Indonesian government wants to be taken seriously by other nations, it will have to take immediate steps to deal with a range of human rights issues in the country,” he added.
Indonesia is currently seeking a chance to obtain a seat at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, boosted by its present chairmanship of ASEAN. It chaired the council in 2006 and became a member between 2007 and 2010.Josef said Amnesty would continue documenting and reporting any human rights abuse should Indonesia be elected a member of the council.
“The Indonesian government has the duty to resolve past human rights issues, such as the killing of human rights defender Munir and bringing the perpetrators to court. We will keep reminding [them of their duty],” he said.
In its annual global report, released on Friday, Amnesty says there remained a considerable number of human rights violations in Indonesia in 2010, including the “excessive use of force” by authorities, torture and other ill-treatment, discrimination against minorities, the lack of protection for domestic workers and suppression of freedom of expression.”
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Memories of ‘Petrus’ resurface after three decades

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Thu, July 26 2012,

Sumardi, 44, a Karawang resident says the days when Karawang villagers repeatedly found bodies from the penembakan misterius (mysterious shootings), or Petrus, in the area of Citarum River, Karawang, West Java, remain fresh in his memory.

“I remember it was 1984, and I was 16. We found bodies floating in Citarum River maybe once every two days, some of them had tattoos, some had no tattoos at all,” he said.
“Some of the bodies got stuck at the edge of the river, while some were carried away by the current, but we just let them go, hoping the river would take them to the sea,” he added.
Sumardi said that the villagers simply didn’t want to get involved.
He said that it was a terrifying time, but he and his family didn’t feel threatened because they knew the killings only targeted specific people.

“We didn’t feel threatened because we knew they only went after people with tattoos and criminal records,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
One of his neighbors was one of the operation’s targets, he said. The man, a much-feared gang member in the neighborhood, was abducted by a group of people who looked like military officers in 1984, Sumardi explained.

“This neighbor of mine was suddenly abducted from a wedding party by a number people who carried weapons. I saw them push him into a hardtop jeep. Witnesses said that later that night they saw him being dragged like an animal and tied up behind the jeep. Since then, we have never seen him again,” he said.
Sumardi is not the only one who still remembers the era of the Petrus killings as a frightening time.

Yosep Adi Prasetyo, the deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) remembered that time as a terrorizing period for his generation. “The Petrus killings have left behind a generation with scars from tattoo removal. It left a very big hole in our hearts,” Yosep said.
According to the result of a Komnas HAM investigation announced on Tuesday, as many as 2,000 bodies of Petrus victims were found in cities throughout Central and East Java, Bogor in West Java, Jakarta, Palembang in South Sumatra and Medan in North Sumatra.
Yosep said that according to the Komnas HAM investigation, some of the victims had been murdered in unusual ways.

“We interviewed doctors, forensics experts, and nurses who had contact with the victims’ bodies, and according to their information, some victims were killed with gold bullets,” Yosep said, in reference to the belief that people could use black magic to make themselves impervious to all but gold bullets.
“Some victims had their chests split open with axes when the perpetrators noticed they were still breathing after being shot,” he added.

Asvi Warman Adam, a historian at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and a former member of
the 1965 purge investigation team, said that Komnas HAM had found indications of gross violations of human rights in the Petrus killings as early as 2003.
“Komnas HAM faced a lot of obstacles in completing this investigation, that’s why the progress was very slow and that is also why I’m not letting my hopes get too high that the Attorney General’s Office [AGO] will follow up on this case or even take it to the ad hoc human rights court,” he told the Post.

Asvi added that a major hindrance to further investigation by the AGO was a required recommendation to proceed from the House of Representatives.
“The further investigation is not only up to the AGO but also the House of Representatives, which makes it a lot harder to finish. As we know a Golkar politician recently rejected any further investigation of human-rights violations occurring before 1998. I don’t know whether the government will take serious action to close this case or not,” he said.

“I am happy enough knowing that the Komnas HAM finished their investigation and declared this case as a gross violation of human rights, because this means they have made it a matter of official record,” he added. (nad)* * *

Amnesty International condemns police brutality

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Thu, April 26 2012,

London-based human rights watchdog, Amnesty International (AI), called on Indonesian police officers to stop using excessive force when dealing with peaceful demonstrations in the country.
In a statement released on Tuesday, AI charged Indonesia’s police with beating, shooting and even killing people with no fear of prosecution, leaving their victims with little hope of receiving justice.

AI’s Indonesia Campaign Coordinator, Josef Roy Benedict, said an independent body should be set up to properly investigate all allegations of human rights violations but with a mandate to enable it to submit its findings for prosecution.
“So far, most police personnel who are accused of misconduct are only subjected to internal proceedings,” Josef said.
He added that despite over a decade of reform, police officers continue to be implicated in cases of shooting and beating individuals taking part in peaceful protests and land disputes, as well as heavy-handed treatment of suspects during regular arrests.Josef said Indonesia had no independent national body to effectively deal with public complaints about alleged human rights violations by police.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the National Police Commission can accept complaints by the public about police misconduct, but they have no authority to refer the cases to prosecutors.
AI reported that in December 2011, three people were killed and dozens injured when 100 people peacefully blocked a road in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, in a protest over a mining exploration permit.
Around 600 police personnel, including members of the police’s Mobile Brigade (Brimob), were dispatched to disperse them. According to the group, the Bima Police chief ordered officers to use force to quell the protest.
In the subsequent internal disciplinary proceedings, five police officers were reportedly punished with three days detention for beating and kicking protesters who put up no resistance.

In North Sumatra, in a land dispute in June 2011 Brimob officers, who were attempting to forcibly evict a community in Langkat district, reportedly fired tear gas as well as live and rubber bullets at villagers defending their homes, injuring at least nine people. (fzm)
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Is this the beginning of the end for our civil liberties?

Endy Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Commentary | Wed, May 30 2012,

Lady Gaga has canceled her sold-out show in Indonesia over security concerns after Muslim hard-liners threatened violence if the pop diva went ahead with her "Born This Way Ball," promoters said Sunday. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan, File)Indonesia may have lost a lot more than the opportunity to see Lady Gaga when she canceled her June 3 concert in Jakarta last weekend. The episode could mark the beginning of the end for Indonesia’s civil liberties as radical groups continue unabated in their assault on the nation’s freedoms.

Those who care about their freedom should speak up and fight to defend it rather than busily trying to distance themselves from Lady Gaga and whatever it is they believe she represents through her songs and stage appearances.

The news that the American pop diva had canceled her Indonesian gig must have come as a huge relief to many people, most particularly the police. The prospect of a violent disruption by the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) as 52,000 fans watched Lady Gaga at Bung Karno Stadium has now been averted.

Thanks to her, police do not even have to deal with the dilemma of whether or not to issue a permit. They would be very unpopular with the conservative Muslims if they decided one way, or earn the wrath of her young fans if they went the other way.
Lady Gaga has settled the dilemma for the police. She has rightly refused to comply with the strict requirements regarding her stage appearance in order to gain a permit, such as submitting in writing the songs she would sing and the costumes she would wear. And she must have had her fans as well herself in mind when she spiked her Jakarta date after police clearly stated that they could not guarantee her or her fans’ safety in view of the protests against her concert.
The real losers in this episode, however, are not Lady Gaga and the 52,000 fans who had bought tickets (many of them will be heading to Singapore where she has apparently added another date to perform, free from FPI harassment). It is actually the nation that has been made so much poorer in terms of its freedoms.
Contrary to what many people believe, even among those who have spoken for our freedoms in the past, the battle being waged by the FPI and Muslim conservatives was never really about Lady Gaga. The stakes were much higher. This was an assault on our freedom of expression.

It certainly marks the return of censorship on artistic expression, not by the state as in the past, but by the use of raw mob power. Don’t be so shocked if all Indonesian and non-Indonesian performing artists from now on are required to submit their song lists as conditions for their permits. Before long, all types of gatherings will be equally subject to censorship.

Coming so close on the heels of the FPI attacks on the promotional tour by Canadian liberal Muslim writer Irshad Manji, the assault on freedom of expression is now almost complete. The discussions of her book Allah, Liberty and Love in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, even those held on university campuses, were forcibly shut down by the FPI with the help of the police.
Sadly, many Indonesians have been quick to dismiss these events as problems confined to Lady Gaga and Manji. Performing artists and scholars who should have been defending their freedom were instead busy distancing themselves.

It did not escape their Indonesian critics that both Lady Gaga and Manji are defenders of homosexuality. This could be one reason why many people in Indonesia, where homophobia runs deep, would have nothing to do with them.
But as Lady Gaga moves on with her performances elsewhere and sells more records, and as Manji continues to recruit followers for her moral courage movement, it is Indonesians who have to brace themselves for more assaults on their freedoms and civil liberties. Those who think that the assaults on freedom will stop with Lady Gaga and Manji, and who thus remain silent, are sorely mistaken. They are the ultimate targets, and victims.

These two victories have only emboldened the FPI and similar radical Islamic groups to flex their muscles and torment those who don’t follow their strict moral beliefs. On a winning streak, they must already be planning their next move and targets.
Just look at the current state of freedom of religion. The silence of the “silent majority” has allowed the FPI to harass, torment and even kill followers of religious minorities. The attacks became increasingly violent and the targets widened because no one, or only very few, spoke up in defense of the religious freedom of the minorities.

Now freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are about to go the same way. Don’t bank on the police — the people sustained by taxpayers’ money — to come and protect our freedoms. In the attacks on religious minorities and in the episodes with Lady Gaga and Manji, police were part of the repression.
A pattern is clearly emerging where religious conservatives are pushing their strict Islamist agenda at the expense of our civil liberties. Not only do they have representatives in government, in the House of Representatives and among religious scholars, they also have thugs working on the streets to impose their agenda by force.

This raises a serious question about where Indonesia is now heading, 14 years after it got rid of the Soeharto dictatorship and launched the reform movement.

Are we seeing the emergence of a new form of tyranny, one that is defined more by the strength of the majority? Where are those on the other side of the fence in this Indonesian version of cultural war? Will they rise up and speak out to defend Indonesia with all its plurality and the civil liberties needed to hold this nation together and moving forward? Or, will they just take these assaults lying ational Police Traffic Corps headquarters in East Jakarta on Tuesday. The vehicles were carrying 20 boxes of evidence on a case surrounding the procurement of vehicle simulators. The KPK named former Traffic Corps chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo as a suspect on Tuesday and raided the headquarters to collect evidence. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)



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