VIVAnews – On Human Rights Day, today, Wednesday, 10 December 2008, a working meeting of the Special Committee for the Case of Enforced Disappearance at the House of Representatives (DPR) was held.
The meeting began with a question by the Special Committee’s Chair, Effendi Simbolon, asking Marwan Effendi why Attorney General Hendarman Supandji was absent.
“My presence here represents the Attorney General. It does not undermine the importance of todafy’s agenda,” answered Marwan, at the meeting held in Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday, Dec. 10.
After Marwan clarified Hendarman’s absence, Effendi Simbolon then asked about the report on the case of enforced disappearance that was submitted by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to the Attorney General’s Office.
Marwan replied that the documents had been returned because an Ad Hoc Tribunal to deal with the case has yet to be formed. “We have returned the documents. We will not investigate without the presence of an ad hoc tribunal. Who would we have to ask for permission from should there need to be a seizure or an arrest? We do not want to violate people’s rights,” Marwan said.
But Marwan’s response still did not satisfy politicians across factions that attended the meeting. Indonesian Democratic Party Struggle (PDIP) politician, Andreas Pareira, bombarded Marwan with questions regarding the technicalities in dealing with a report of human rights violation.
In a hearing last week, 3 December, the Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI) had urged the Special Committee to recommend the establishment of an ad hoc Human Rights Tribunal to the President.
“The President must also immediately order the Indonesian Military Commander in Chief to declassify the documents of DKP (the Council for Observing the Honor of Military Officers) and investigation reports at the Military Police Center (Puspom) and the Indonesian Special Forces Command (Kopassus),” said Mugianto, reading IKOHI’s recommendation in the hearing. Therefore, he said, the whereabouts of the 13 individuals that are still missing can be known.
One of the victim’s mother pled to the Committee: “I sincerely ask that this case be resolved quickly because I have been waiting for 10 years. Not even a single news until today,” said victim Yadi Muhidin’s mother during the hearing, Dec. 3.
During the same meeting last week IKOHI had also urged the Committee to use the recommendations by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM). “It is best if the DPR’s Special Committee do not do a re-investigation of the case because it has been investigated upon by Komnas Ham, whereby it was stated that there is sufficient initial evidence of grave human rights violation in the 1997-1998 enforced disappearance incident,” said Mugianto.
Mugianto, head of IKOHI, is also one of the victims of enforced disappearance in 1998 who was eventually found. He went on to say that the victims and the victims’ families are very uncomfortable because they have to keep repeating their testimonies regarding the 1998 incident. “We have gone through the testimonies dozens or even hundreds of times. If we do it again, we are afraid the DPR will re-enter the investigation process,” he said. “We hope that the process of resolving this case can move forward and not continue to be stuck at the investigation level,” he continued.
In response to Mugianto’s request, Effendi Simbolon asked the victims and families to be willing to repeat the outline of their testimonies about the 1998 incident. “Because the Special Committee is not permanent and the membership may change,” he said.
The Special Committee was reactivated after some time. Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) politician Effendi Simbolon stated that the reactivation is aimed at summoning a number of military generals who were allegedly responsible for various abduction cases occurring between 1997 and 1998.
VIVAnews writers Arfi Bambani Amri, Fadila Fikriani Armadita, Ita Lismawati F. Malau and Anggi Kusumadewi contributed to this article.
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