TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto said on Wednesday, October 5, 2016 that the government is committed to addressing alleged human rights violation in Papua.
According to Wiranto, the government is not giving promises to the people in Papua and West Papua, since it is a mandate for the government "to address all allegations of [human rights] violations, whether in Papua or anywhere in the country."
Wiranto viewed that the investigation into the allegation of human rights violations would not be easy. The Ministry, Wiranto added, must coordinate with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to look into testimonial from witnesses and evidences.
"Most of the violations occurred a long time ago. Some were in the 90s and in early 2000s. The point is we are committed to addressing these violations, but there are processes to go through," Wiranto added.
Wiranto confirmed that he is planning a non-judiciary mechanism to settle human rights violations that occurred in the past. According to Wiranto, the mechanism is in line with traditional customs in Indonesia, by which horizontal conflicts are settled.
"The judiciary mechanism is about winning and losing at court, but a non-judiciary mechanism promotes win-win solutions, because it involves discussion," Wiranto explained.
Wiranto revealed that the Indonesian government had settled 11 cases of human rights violations in Papua, including those in Biak Numfor in 1998 and the Paniai incident in 2014. The case settlements involved several institutions, such as the National Police, the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), the Papua Police, Komnas HAM, the Attorney General's Office, the Papuan Cultural Communities, and human rights activists.
In this case, Komnas HAM was specifically authorized to conduct investigations into heavy human rights violation cases, such as the Wasior case (2001), the Wamena case (2003), the Paniai case (December 2014), and the Biak incident (July 1998).
YOHANES PASKALIS
