Next Indonesia president must uncover rights abuses, parties agree

Margareth S. Aritonang

The Jakarta Post

Publication Date : 07-05-2014

Political parties in Indonesia have agreed that the countrys next president must uncover past human rights violations, with the first step being the establishment of a Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (KKR).

However, most of the parties have balked at the proposal to form an ad- hoc human rights court.

The limited support for the establishment of an ad-hoc court will, however, affect any efforts by the next president to bring cases of gross human rights violations to court.

Only the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and its coalition partner, the NasDem Party, have publicly declared via PDI-P presidential candidate Joko Jokowi Widodo their commitment to employing legal mechanisms to solve gross human rights abuses from the past, such as by setting up the KKR and ratifying all the international human rights covenants.

We previously passed a law on the KKR. Pak Jokowi is committed to kick-starting the process toward its establishment. His commitment will also include the ratification of international conventions on human rights because the issue of human rights is a trans-border issue. All countries around the world must work together to uphold them, Andreas Parera of the PDI-P said.

Andreas said the PDI-P was such a strong advocate of human rights as the partys own members had been subjected to human rights abuses in the past.

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Next Indonesia president must uncover rights abuses, parties agree