TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Massacre victims' families demand justice
Human rights activists and families of victims of the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre have criticized President Joko âJokowiâ Widodoâs failure to fulfill his campaign promises to resolve past gross human rights violations
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
H
uman rights activists and families of victims of the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre have criticized President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's failure to fulfill his campaign promises to resolve past gross human rights violations.
Wanma Yeti, who had relatives die in the incident, said that Jokowi must quickly take action to respect the rights of victims.
'We ask the President to do two things. First, he must issue a decree or a policy to support the recovery of the victims. Second, he must issue a presidential decree or policy to push the attorney general to investigate past gross human rights incidents or cases that have previously been investigated by the National Commission on Human Rights [Komnas HAM],' Wanma said in a press conference on Saturday.
The Tanjung Priok massacre happened on Sept. 12, 1984, when members of the military opened fire at people protesting against a New Order policy in the North Jakarta neighborhood.
According to official reports from Komnas HAM, 24 people lost their lives while 55 suffered major injuries.
In an ad hoc human rights trial at the Central Jakarta District Court in 2004, Maj. Gen. (ret) Rudolph Adolph Butar-butar and Capt. Sutrisno Mascung were sentenced to 10 and three years in prison, respectively, and others also received sentences. However, all convicts were released a little over a year later.
Wanma said that during the presidential campaign last year, Jokowi had specifically mentioned the Tanjung Priok incident in his mission statement as one of the past human rights abuse cases he would seek to resolve if elected.
'I am disappointed with Jokowi. We are all disappointed. But families of the victims are still committed to demanding that Jokowi show the courage to resolve [the case]. We have concrete evidence that it happened. There was the trial and there are graves,' she said.
Meanwhile, Beni Biki, whose brother, community leader Amir Biki, died in the shooting, said that Jokowi should avoid repeating predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's offers of false hope.
Beni said he had twice been summoned during Yudhoyono's administration to give advice on how the government should tackle the situation, but with no progress ensuing.
He added that he and other victims and their families were preparing to submit a letter to Jokowi that they would deliver after his Middle East tour.
'In the letter, we will remind him that a country should not have any debts. We just want a resolution, whether that is through a legal process or any other means,' he said.
He also criticized the government's decision not to include the Tanjung Priok massacre among seven cases to be resolved by a human rights task force to be comprised of the Attorney General's Office (AGO), Komnas HAM, the Indonesian military (TNI) and the National Police, among other institutions.
'If this is true, then it is proof that the government is trying to downplay the incident,' Beni told The Jakarta Post.
Separately, M. Daud Beureuh from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) criticized the planned task force's inclusion of institutions implicated in the violence.
'How will [the task force] be objective if the TNI, the National Police and the National Intelligence Agency [BIN] are involved? How can it uncover the truth when its members may have blood on their hands?' Daud asked.
