President Wahid Concerned By Special Committee Investigations of Trisakti, Semanggi I and II

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:President Abdurrahman Wahid is concerned by the findings of the House of Representative (DPR) special committee regarding the Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II cases. In the Trisakti incident, six students were killed, allegedly by security apparatus in the grounds of Trisakti University of Jakarta in May 1998. The shootings came during student protests calling for former president Soeharto's resignation. The Semanggi I and II incidents also refers to shootings against students as they protested outside a special session of parliament during the transitional presidency of BJ Habibie. These protests were aimed at a plan to impose the Security Act to handle dissidents. According to the president, widespread public disappointment concerning the recent recommendations for the legal handling of the cases has emerged with good reason. The cases of Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II, he said, should not have been dealt with purely as criminal cases. He also said that people are justifiably suspicious of political motives behind such an approach.

President Wahid hoped the fight for human rights’ would continue. “Will the human rights struggle disappear just like that?” asked the presidential spokesperson Wimar Witoelar today quoting the president (10/07). The president called for people to put forward their views concerning the proper handling of these human rights cases. However, he asked that such input be limited to those people possessing technical knowledge of the cases.

Yesterday (09/07), the DPR announced that the cases would be handled by military courts. They had reached this decision after voting on a report produced by the Special Committee on the Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II cases. According to the head of this committee, Panda Nababan, there were three options voted upon. The first was that an investigation commission on human rights affairs (KPP HAM) be established to settle the cases and others like it. However, Nababan said this proposal conflicted with Law No. 26/2000 regarding the proper establishment of ad hoc human rights trial.

Based on this law, such an investigation commission would only be entitled to carry out a pro justisia investigation. The second option raised was a presidential decree to form an ad hoc human rights trial. However, the special committee approved the third option, that the cases be settled by a military court.

Many people are upset by the decision. Ny. Sumarsih, the mother of a student killed in the Semanggi I incident, even threw eggs at the DPR members to express her disappointment over the decision.