Komnas HAM Urges Jokowi to Reiterate Human Rights Commitment

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has urged President Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, to reiterate his commitment to handle and promote human rights when he delivers his address to the annual session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) on Monday.

"We want the President to reiterate his commitment," Komnas HAM's coordinator for human rights promotion sub-commission Beka Ulung Hapsara said in Jakarta on Sunday.

The rights body also hopes that the President will reveal the progress in the settlement of 12 gross human rights violations in the past during the MPR's annual session.

The head of state needs to stress swift settlement of the 12 gross human rights violations to demonstrate the government's seriousness in handling the cases, Hapsara said.

In addition, Indonesia which will commemorate its 76th independence on August 17, 2021 will be more tolerant so that intolerant cases will no longer occur in the country, he added.

"For example, ban on worship services and construction of places of worship. We hope it can be settled and will no longer happen," he said.

Not only national level human rights violations should be settled but also regional level human rights cases should draw attention, he said. .

He further expressed the hope that the President will also highlight the issue of agrarian conflicts which are closely related to a number of infrastructure development projects.

Citing an example, he said the rights body has received a complaint from the Margawangi Estate Cijawaru Association over alleged environmental destruction and pollution in connection with the construction of Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway.

Komnas HAM reminded the government that any infrastructure development project in the country should not violate the human rights of each citizen.

In the meantime, in January 2021, Komnas HAM had submitted a report on the findings of an investigation into the deaths of six members of the banned FPI to President Joko Widodo.

The body  determined that the killing of four FPI members was a human rights violation, and called on the authorities to prosecute the perpetrators.

The report said that the six FPI members were killed in two different circumstances. Two of them were killed during a shootout between them and police officers on the KM50 Jakarta-Cikampek toll road, while the other four were killed after being held in police custody.

The six FPI members, aged between 20 and 33 years, were shot dead by Jakarta police officers conducting surveillance of FPI Chief Rizieq Shihab, on Km 50 of the Cikampek Toll Road, Kerawang, West Java, on December 7, 2020.

Read: FPI Members Shot Dead; IPW Alleges SOP Violations by Police

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