Baby steps towards a Truth Commission for Aceh

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000497 SIPDIS SIPDIS Embassy Jakarta Medan Affairs Office # 02, 2007 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM ASEC ID SUBJECT: Baby steps towards a Truth Commission for Aceh ¶1. SUMMARY: Authorities from Jakarta held a conference February 15 in Banda Aceh to discuss issues surrounding the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for Aceh mandated by the August 2005 Helsinki MOU and Indonesian law. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Wiwiek Setyawati Firman said the Commission must be temporary, official, and non-juridical. Navy Colonel Soleman Ponto, formerly a TNI liaison for the Aceh Monitoring Mission, cautioned that the Commission should not endanger societal cohesion, lest Aceh could become like East Timor. During a cameo appearance at the opening of the conference, the head of Aceh's provincial Syriah department denied human rights were a part of Islam. Though small, the conference is the first step Jakarta has taken publicly toward the establishment of a TRC for Aceh since the promulgation of the Law on the Government of Aceh last July. END SUMMARY. ¶2. On February 15, MOFA hosted a one-day conference in Banda Aceh to discuss human rights issues and the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Aceh (Komisi Kebenaran dan Rekonsiliasi, TRC). In addition to MOFA's Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Office, representatives of Aceh's provincial Syriah department and provincial women's empowerment office, the ILO Indonesia Project Coordinator for trafficking and forced labor, and the former GOI Deputy Secretary for the Aceh Monitoring Mission presented material on specific areas of interest in the human rights dialogue. ¶3. The first sessions of the conference were devoted to explaining the various UN conventions on human rights that Indonesia already ratified and the relevant Indonesian law implementing those conventions. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Director for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Jonny Sinaga led the session and explained Indonesia's human rights obligations as set forth under international conventions and Indonesian law. The conference was marketed as a preparatory conference for the upcoming visit by the UNSG's Special Representative on Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, but Firman explained to us that all the background needed to be given to the Indonesian audience because most the civil servants did not know either Indonesia's obligations under the conventions nor the Indonesian laws. She thought more outreach was needed before a TRC could be established. Specifically, she thought the Acehnese civil service needed to better understand human rights so they could, in turn, help make the TRC politically acceptable to the general public. ¶4. Al-Yasa' Abubakar, head of Aceh's provincial Syariah department, argued in his address that human rights are not a part of Islam because human rights are not mentioned in Islamic holy books. Rather, he said, human rights are a new idea from Europe, though this did not mean Syriah rejected human rights concerns. He argued that some human rights problems that were still debated in the west had definitive answers in Islam (e.g. euthanasia and capital punishment). (NOTE: Immediately before Abubakar's presentation, Sinaga traced the history of human rights back through ancient Persia, Mesopatamia, and Hammurabi. Nonetheless, in a follow-up question, someone asked whether human rights were only a European concept with no applicability to Indonesia. END NOTE.) Abubakar did not reject the establishment of a TRC and told us later discussions of human rights in Aceh had to take place in the context of Syariah law. ¶5. Navy Colonel Soleman Ponto, a respected former TNI liaison for the Aceh Monitoring Mission and GoI representative to the Commission on Security Arrangements (COSA),gave presentations on establishing a KKR in Aceh, detailing problems and mechanisms for doing this. Ponto said that after 30 years of conflict a TRC was needed to avoid a breakdown in the peace process, besides which, it is mandated by the August 2005 Helsinki agreement (MOU) and the Law on Governing Aceh (LOGA). The problem, he noted, was to pursue the aims of the TRC without breaking societal cohesion in Aceh. "Do you want to become another East Timor?" he asked rhetorically. ¶6. In a question to Soleman, an audience member dismissed the MOU as irrelevant to Aceh and demanded to know how the TRC would help Aceh. Soleman answered that it would provide a mechanism to move Aceh forward and away from its past. Without it, he cautioned again, Aceh's peace process could be threatened. ¶7. In her presentation, Firman discussed the modalities of implementing a TRC and pointed to the UNHCR publication, "Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States," as a guideline for how to do it. She underscored the need for the TRC to be temporary, JAKARTA 00000497 002 OF 002 official, and non-juridical. Firman also stressed the need to balance respect for local customs and traditions with upholding international standards in the TRC. ¶8. Firman finished her presentation with photos and a video clip of alleged Malaysian abuse of Indonesian detainees. The video clip showed a fit-looking guard deliver a substantial cane stroke to a prisoner bound to a frame. Although the conference audience reacted initially with shock, during the question and answer session someone asked what the difference was between the Malaysian caning and Acehnese caning under Syriah. When was harsh too harsh? Clearly discomforted by the question, Firman argued the severity of the blow relegated it from punishment to abuse. She showed the video several more times as evidence. ¶9. COMMENT: Consistent with the Helsinki MOU, the Law on the government of Aceh promulgated last July specifically mandated the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a Human Rights Court for Aceh. Since that time, however, Jakarta has been virtually silent about the TRC, leading some Acehnese to question whether the TRC would be established at all. By holding a conference on this sensitive matter in Banda Aceh, the GoI has taken a small but significant step demonstrating commitment to establishing a TRC. END COMMENT. Heffern