Enforced disappearance in Indonesia: A continuing crime (deliberately) left unresolved
As a signatory to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), Indonesia is, in principle, endorsing the global attempts to fight enforced disappearance. However, despite its moral support to the ICPPED, many cases of enforced disappearance in Indonesia are still left unresolved.
For instance, according to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), more than 32,000 people disappeared during the 1965–1966 massacre. Additionally, according to the Commission for the Disappeared and Victim of Violence (KontraS), around 18,600 people disappeared during Indonesia’s occupation in East Timor between 1975–1999. The figure will significantly increase if we take into account disappearance cases from protracted conflicts in Aceh and Papua, mysterious shootings (Petrus) 1982–1985, Talangsari tragedy 1989, and the disappearance of pro-democracy activists in 1997–1998, among other cases.
One of the reasons for Indonesia’s failure to establish an effective accountability mechanism for enforced disappearance cases is the State’s disinclination to be a party to the ICED. After all, 11 years after Indonesia signed the ICPPED, there is no sign that the State is willing to ratify it.
The lack of political will is shown by the State’s constant dismissal of the victims’ demands. For example, on the civil society level KontraS, along with other human rights movements such as the Black Umbrella Movement (Aksi Kamisan) and the Association of the Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI), has been working with the victims and survivors of the 1997–1998 enforced disappearances in demanding the State to establish the truth, bring the alleged perpetrators to justice, provide remedies for the victims and survivors, and prevent the recurrence of similar crimes. Between 1999 to 2003, the civil society coalition urged Komnas HAM to carry its investigation mandate. After countless meetings, publications, and media engagements, Komnas HAM fulfilled the coalition’s demand and established the Ad Hoc Team of Inquiry on Gross Human Rights Violations in the Enforced Disappearances of 1997–1998 in September 2003.
From 2003 to 2006, Komnas HAM carried out a fact-finding mission, questioned 77 witnesses, found at least 23 people disappeared, with 13 still missing, and concluded that the cases were State-sponsored and the abuses amount to crimes against humanity. The disappearances were carried out by a unit, the Rose Team (Tim Mawar), which operated under the auspices of the military’s Elite Commando Force (Kopassus), led by Indonesia’s current Minister of Defense, Prabowo Subianto. In November 2006, Komnas HAM submitted the fact-finding report to the Attorney General Office (AGO) and recommended AGO to conduct investigations, pushed the government to establish an ad hoc human rights court (a court that could try instances of abuse that happened before the enactment of a particular law, in this case, atrocities that occurred before Law 26 of 2000 concerning Human Rights Court was passed), and provide compensation for the victims and their family members.
Unfortunately, none of Komnas HAM’s recommendations were implemented by the relevant State authorities. The AGO refused to conduct investigations and criminally prosecute the perpetrators. The then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his successors never issued a decree to establish an ad hoc human rights court. As a result, victims are still missing, and the crimes continue.
To make matters worse, the State constantly honors and gives shelter to the alleged perpetrators. F.S. Multhazar, Vice Commander of Tim Mawar, and Untung Budi Harto, a member of Tim Mawar, who were supposedly dismissed from the military after a verdict by the High Military Court in 1999, continued to stay in the army and got promoted. Under President Joko Widodo, as implied earlier, the former Kopassus commander and leader of Tim Mawar, Prabowo Subianto, currently holds the position of the Minister of Defense. In addition, two of Prabowo’s former colleagues in Tim Mawar, Dadang Hendrayudha and Yulius Selvanus, also hold strategic positions in the Ministry of Defense as Director-General for Defense Potential and Strategic Defense Installation Body, respectively.
The decision to omit the alleged perpetrators from being prosecuted is a form of mockery towards the victims’ and survivors’ cry for justice and evidence of the State’s lack of willingness to fulfill its international human rights obligations. We can not let such a condition continue and allow the State to preserve the impunity culture. Therefore, in commemorating the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance today, I strongly urge the State, both the parliamentary and the government, to: ratify the ICPPED; search, locate, and release the disappeared, and in the case of death, the remains must be discovered, respected, and returned to their loved ones; prosecute the offenders; ensure that those affected by the crimes have the right to receive reparation and compensation; and guarantee non-repetition of similar crimes.
