PSPD in English Archive 2002-01-31   853

KongraS (The Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence)

Introducing KONTRAS (The Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence): Unite to Struggle for Human Rights and Democracy.

Poengky Indarti

(Fund Raising Bureau, KontraS)

BACKGROUND

In 1996 the hopes for developing a new society under a democratic system in Indonesia were almost buried, when authoritarian politics not only destroyed independent political aspirations, but also muzzled what was called the “Undercurrent”, as a continuation of the July 27, 1996 incident. The victims were not only the political parties, but also nearly all the independent community organizations. NGOs and students experienced co-optation and intimidation in an increasingly more brutal manner through arrests and detentions, officially as well as arbitrarily, and also investigations and open terror. The brutality of July 27 itself apparently occurred from the need of the regime to prepare a clear road for the reproduction process of the New Order, which culminated in the General Elections of 1997.

In this period, by predicting the possibilities of violence that might arise as a reaction to the General Elections and the General Session of the Consultative Assembly, a number of NGOs have established a Monitoring of Human Rights Violations (KIP-HAM). At that time the first enforced disappearances came to the surface, causing the people’s anxieties for the disappearances of Desmond Mahesa, Pius Lustrilanang and Haryanto Taslam. (The two first are NGO activists and the last is a political activist). At the same time as the anxiety caused by the disappearing persons and the continual violence that was taking place, in the macro sense the New Order regime was entering its most crucial period as a political regime, namely the onset of the storm in the form of the economic crisis which continued to escalate until 1998. The beatings inflicted by this economic crisis ridiculed the desire of the Soeharto regime to be reinstated in the General Session of the Consultative Assembly in March 1998. At this point the two main paradoxes of the New Order regime met, namely the crisis of legitimization and the moment of reproduction in the General Session of the Consultative Assembly of 1998.

The dialectics of this paradox gave birth to the two most important aspects. First, there was increasing repression in the form of military operations (e.g. kidnapping and arrests). Second, the increasing repression was related to the increasing resistance offered by the critical entities, especially the intellectuals and a number of NGO activists, backboned and inspired by student movements which were becoming more intensive in quality as well as in number.

With these contradictions, instigated by a deep concern for the increasing number of victims of the violence, and the uncertain faith of a number of persons, several activists from NGOs and student Organizations such as YLBHI (Legal Aid), Elsam (Advocacy), AJI (journalist), KIPP (Election Watch), PMII (Islamic Student Activists), supported by a number of influential persons, decided to establish a kind of investigative task force to work tactically and in marathon. The main task was to find the parties responsible for the disappearances of people and for the violence. It was at this point that KIP-HAM, which was established in 1997, was changed into KontraS (Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence).

The political paradox of a regime vainly try to defend its power, of a legitimacy crisis, and of the untiring resistance of the student movements, not only transformed the work of KontraS, it also established “by force” the character of KontraS as another member of the avant garde confronting the authoritarianism of Soeharto regime. During that period, the tasks which dominated the performance of KontraS were tactical and spontaneous.

With the fall of Soeharto, it was expected that a new era in the political life would emerge. However weak political leadership under the Habibie, Gus Dur, and Megawati regimes, the still strong influence of the old regime, and the lack of seriousness in the eradication of the roots of authoritarianism, such as the militarism of the New Order under the post Soeharto regimes, has actually caused the emergence and the transformation of bigger and more serious problems: horizontal conflicts, corruption growing more rampant, and the uncertain direction of law enforcement.

Under these conditions, KontraS encountered problems of a much more severe intensity. It was “forced” to confront the innermost character of the authoritarian regime of the New Order, namely militarism, especially in the cases such as Aceh, Ambon, the social riots, disappearing persons, and the killing of students. In other words, the problem was more structural in nature than “just” the disappearances of people. This fact can be roughly defined as follows. At the beginning it only faced the Prabowo case, where a Lieutenant General and Commander of the Corps of Special Troops, Soeharto’s son in law, was accused of being the intellectual actor behind the disappearances of the people. Then after the Soeharto Period, KontraS faced the culture of militarism in its original and structural form, going increasingly from the “ornamental” to the essential. Furthermore, the multi-party and multi-ideology format in the post Soeharto period has also rekindled the old problems, which indeed can easily turn into new conflicts within the community and into a chain of violence.

ORGANIZATION

The Vision of KontraS

Democracy must be developed on the basis of the wholeness of the people’s sovereignty, which is based in turn on the fundamentals and principles of a people free from fear, oppression, violence, and the various forms of human rights violations. The conditions for the growth of a democratic system are the development of civilian characteristics of the system and its conduct, and the alienation of politics and political behavior or culture from violent approaches born from the principles of militarism as a system. The issue is not just military intervention in politics. More than that, it is the structural and cultural conditions, and the relationships between social communities, groups and strata, which prioritizes violence and its symbols.

The Mission of KontraS

To advance the people’s awareness of the importance of respect for human rights, especially the sensitivity of the people to the various forms of violence and attempts at the forced disappearances of people as a result of the abuse of state power.

To fight for the upholding and respecting of human rights, especially the rights of the people to be free from all forms of violence, forced disappearances of people, and the other serious human rights violations, by means of various forms of advocacy or by demands for the accountability of the state.

To consistently push for changes in the law and the political system to strengthen and protect the people against forms of violence, forced disappearances, and other serious human rights violations.

KontraS, organized as a foundation and non-profit organization, was established on the 20th of March 1998. KontraS obtains funding to finance its activities from donations from the community, organizations as well as individuals, and other donor institutions, domestically as well as from abroad, under the condition that it is not binding and without consequences in any form whatsoever which could impede, disrupt and or result in the change of the substance and or the implementation of the vision and mission of the organization.

Activities of KontraS:

Preventing victimization as an impact of Political Violence

Due Process of Law

Victim Rehabilitation

Peace and Reconciliation

Campaign for Human Rights

A number of cases handled by KontraS :

Disappearances of People

Indonesia has a long history of disappearing persons. From 1965, when the conflict between the military and the communist party became more serious, more than 500,000 people were killed in several ways, like being arrested and kidnapped, to the abductions experienced by the fighters for democracy in 1998. When we consider the activities of the victims, we find that most of them were ordinary people who didn’t know anything about the accusations leveled against them. For example in Aceh, since the DOM (Military Open Area) status was applied to this region, the victims of the abductions were ordinary people like peasants, workers, teachers, and all of them were ignorant about GAM (the Free Aceh Movement). This is still taking place. In addition, there are also victims who have a different opinion from the New Order government.

In the cases of the disappearing people, KontraS has done a number of things, such as preparing reports on disappearing people, demanding the government disclose and explain the existing cases, and organising national and international campaigns against the practice of disappearing people.

Varieties of Racial Violence

Violence based on racial issues has been present in Indonesia since 1740, and has continued to take place through the last few years. This indicates that racial riots have a long history in Indonesia. Nearly all incidents with a racial flavour have made the ethnic Chinese the victims.

When we see the causes, it is because in the mind of every Indonesian there is a stigmatization against certain ethnicities, groups, or religions as a result of the long process of hegemony organized by the Authoritarian Government. This has made Indonesia become a country that is vulnerable to riots.

KontraS continues to monitor all incidents, has made a database of the victims, carries out national and international campaigns against violence, and tries to counter all racialist views.

CONCLUSION

The activities of KontraS as an organization are entering their fourth year. Nevertheless because of the trust and demands by the people, the cases of human rights violations that have taken place over the past thirty two years have become the responsibility of KontraS. In this position, KontraS is pushing for strategic changes in the national legal and political structure, especially to resolve the various human rights violations by means of establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In the public sphere, the various acts of advocacy done by KontraS have promoted changes in the legal instruments which maintain the legal immunity of the military element. Nevertheless, this framework still need further efforts in order to bring more significant changes.

During the 4 years of its activities (1998-2002), KontraS has received the following awards.

– The Suardi Tasrif Award, 1998, from the Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI) in the category of Organization developing the rights of people to information about human rights violations.

– The Serdadu Award, 1998, from the Organization of Jakarta Street Artists and Musicians, for its efforts to promote the upholding of human rights.

– The Yap Thiam Hien Award, 1998, one of the most prestigious awards in the field of human rights.

In the international forum, Munir, as KontraS’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, received The Rights Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize for Human Rights Activists) in 2000, and the Manjeth Singh Award from UNESCO in 2001.

Poengky Indarti

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