Weekly Update Human Rights in Indonesia – 08-12-2014 Impunity

Weekly Update Human Rights in Indonesia – 08-12-2014

His work involved included strong criticism of excesses committed by members of Impunity the Indonesian Military (TNI). His supporters continue to maintain that the killing was state sponsored — No review of Munir case something to which the police have been able only to shrug their shoulders after the original investigation did not find evidence to convict anyone sponsored by The Jakarta Globe, 03-12-2014 the state. “The National Police have done their best in the investigation and the National Police Chief Gen. Sutarman said on Wednesday that the police would suspect [Muchdi] was declared not guilty on all charges,” Sutarman said. “We can not reopen the investigation of the 2004 assassination of Munir Said Thalib — only reopen the case if there is new evidence.” disappointing supporters of the slain human rights activist, who will view the Prosecutors did file an appeal in 2009 against the acquittal of Muchdi. But that announcement as a setback in their campaign for a judicial review. appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court. The then-deputy attorney general, The announcement means that the police will not assist prosecutors in searching Darmono, said the AGO was considering applying for a judicial review — the only for new evidence needed to file a review of the case against Muchdi option left to prosecutors — but that has yet to materialize. Purwoprandjono, the former deputy head of Indonesia’s State Intelligence Attention on the case was renewed when Pollycarpus was released on parole last Agency (BIN). week after serving eight years of his 14-year jail sentence. Muchdi was acquitted by a Jakarta court in 2008 — which found he had no involvement in a death that activists say remains unsolved.

The only person convicted of Munir’s murder was Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto — a former pilot for flag carrier Garuda Indonesia. Pollycarpus was sentenced to 20 years, later reduced to 14 on appeal, for having poisoned Munir with arsenic on Sept. 7, 2004, during a layover in Singapore before the 38-year-old activist boarded a flight for Amsterdam. Munir died before the plane landed in the Netherlands. He was on his way to study humanitarian law at Utrecht University.

Munir founded the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) to advocate justice for the victims of abuses committed by the state.

This Amnesty International Netherlands clipping service is made for Amnesty members and others interested in the human rights developments in Indonesia – for information only – not to be quoted as Amnesty information. For more information or to be included in or deleted from the mailing list, write to [email protected]. For back issues view http://www.marthameijer.org/page36.php

Weekly Update Human Rights in Indonesia – 08-12-2014

Munir’s supporters said over the weekend that the release of Pollycarpus Ronny said National Police chief Gen. Sutarman spoke at the police academy in reflected negatively on President Joko Widodo’s commitment to human rights. Semarang, Central Java, where he told officers on Friday that: “There can be no “This is a bad sign for the government of Joko Widodo,” said Hendardi, the head more evictions, violence and coercion towards any religious beliefs as stipulated of the Committee of Solidarity Action for Munir (Kasum). Indonesian Human in the 1945 constitution.” Rights Monitor (Imparsial) executive director Poengki Indarti added that the decision to release Pollycarpus would damage Joko’s image. Police would not tolerate any groups who used religion as an excuse to act as vigilantes or attack houses of worship, Ronny said. The subsequent clamor for a review of the case puts Joko in a difficult position. This is because the president appointed A.M. Hendropriyono to a senior advisory “The protection for minority groups, be it religious groups, tribes or races must role in his government. Hendropriyono was the intelligence chief at the time and be conducted optimally,” he said. was known to have been present at at least one meeting at the offices of the BIN Religious intolerance is common in Sunni Muslim-majority Indonesia and often with Muchdi and Pollycarpus. The substance of that meeting has never been boils over into threats and violent attacks against religious minority groups, or declared, to the disappointment of Munir’s supporters. imprisonment of leaders on blasphemy charges. They maintain that Pollycarpus had no personal motive to murder Munir. Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report in 2013 which documented an increasing number of attacks by Islamic militant groups on houses of worship and Freedom of Religion members of minority groups. The attacks were carried out most commonly against Ahmadis, Christians and Shia Muslims, the report said.

Indonesia’s National Police have pledged to crack down Yudhoyono has been heavily criticized for allowing attacks to rise over his two- on violence against religious minorities term presidency between 2004 and 2014.

The Jakarta Globe, 07-12-2014 Writing in the Jakarta Globe in August this year, Phelim Kine, the deputy director at HRW’s Asia division, said: “Yudhoyno’s failure to protect religious freedom Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny. F. Sompie told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday goes far beyond his acceptance of the depredations of Islamist thugs.” that police would take a harder line against religious intolerance, an issue human rights groups say was neglected by the administration of former president Susilo “On multiple occasions in recent years,” Kine added, “police and government Bambang Yudhoyono. officials have been passively or actively complicit in incidents of harassment, intimidation or violence against religious minorities.”

Weekly Update Human Rights in Indonesia – 08-12-2014

More recently, Amnesty International condemned the criminalization of beliefs in Indonesia in the past decade.

Rupert Abbott, Amnesty’s research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, told a Jakarta audience on Nov. 21 that the organization supported President Joko Widodo’s stated commitment to human rights, but that the new government had its work cut out for it in a climate of “intensifying intolerance.”

Death penalty

Debate on death penalty Kompas 03-12-2014

Death row in Indonesia is being dominated by drug related criminals. But the death penalty has not resulted in a decrease of the use and smuggling of drugs. The Programme Director of Imparsial, Al Araf, said this in a press conference entitled: “Executions on Death Row: President Jokowi is not committed to human rights”, last Tuesday. “There is no correlation between the implementation of the death penalty and a decreasing crime occurrence. Although the death penalty is being used, still drug related crimes are on the rise. It is an illusion to think that it will diminish as a result of that punishment,” he said. According to figures of the Office of the Attorney General, there are 89 persons on death row because of The Jakarta Post, 05/12/2014 drug related crimes. Of them, 3 persons requested pardon, and nine have been granted pardon; their sentence was changed into life imprisonment after a President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered the execution of five death-row review of the case. The National Drugs Agency (Badan Narkotoka Nasional) stated drug convicts later this month in line with court rulings. However, the move, that in 2013 the number of hard drug addicts was the highest in the last five which has been described by the government as a demonstration “that the years, more than 20,000 cases. government is fulfilling its promise to act firmly in upholding the law”, has raised

Weekly Update Human Rights in Indonesia – 08-12-2014 questions as to the deterrent effect of the death penalty in Indonesia, which March of that year and a Pakistani drug smuggler in November. According to the resumed executions in 2013, five years after the last executions, of three Bali BNN, 47 of the total are foreigners. In May 2013, three convicted murders were bombing convicts, were carried out in 2008. also executed in Cilacap prison.

Jokowi held a meeting with Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Several high-profile drug trafficking cases include 58-year old British grandmother Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno to discuss the death penalty, as well as a plan to Lindsay Sandiford, whose appeal against her death sentence was rejected by the sink three foreign vessels caught fishing illegally in Indonesian waters to help Supreme Court in August 2013, and two Australians, from the so-called “Bali deter illegal fishing by foreign ships, on Thursday at the Presidential Office. Tedjo Nine”, who attempted to smuggle 8 kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in said it was not a unilateral decision by Jokowi but rather the President was 2005. merely implementing sentences that had already been imposed. Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration was repeatedly Five convicts to be executed this month with 20 more to follow next year. criticized for its lenience toward drug traffickers. In February, for example, Opinion divided among human rights activists, lawmakers, legal experts on Schapelle Corby, an Australian drug trafficker who had been sentenced to 20 effectiveness of death penalty. “It was not the President’s decision, but the years for attempting to smuggle 4.2 grams of marijuana through Bali’s Ngurah Rai President has instructed the relevant authorities to carry out the legal process International Airport, was granted parole. correctly. Those [sentences] that have reached legally binding conclusions should be carried out,” Tedjo said after the meeting. Despite support from many lawmakers, human rights watchdogs have insisted capital punishment does not have a deterrent effect. Without revealing the identities or the nationalities of the convicts in question, Tedjo said the five, who were among 64 inmates on death row, would face the “No matter what the crime is, we oppose the death penalty. Given the multi- firing squad this month. layered factors involved in the commission of crime it is not a tool to deter people,” said Zainal Abidin, an activist with the Institute for Policy Research and The government is now waiting for the newly inaugurated Attorney General HM Advocacy (ELSAM). “Not to mention the poor quality of our judiciary that still Prasetyo to complete the paperwork required for the execution of the five leaves open the room for wrongful convictions.” convicts. Prasetyo recently announced that 20 other death-row inmates, the majority of whom are drug convicts, would face the firing squad in 2015. Imparsial and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) have reaffirmed their stance against the death penalty, saying it should Data from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) shows that 77 drug traffickers not remain on the country’s statute books as Indonesia had ratified the have been on death row since 2004, of whom nine have been executed. Two of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which stipulates that these were executed in 2013, including Nigerian drug smuggler Adam Wilson in every state must protect the right to life.

Weekly Update Human Rights in Indonesia – 08-12-2014

The issue has also led to mixed opinions among legal experts. Akhiar Salmi from According to reports, one of the five individuals facing imminent execution is the University of Indonesia said the death penalty was still justified as long as the detained in Tangerang, Banten province, another two in Batam, Riau Islands case was strong “because those drug smugglers have deprived people of their Province, and a further two in Nusakambangan, Central Java. The two from rights, for example, the right to a healthy life”. Nusakambangan have reportedly been convicted for murder and the three others for drug-related crimes. Vice-President Jusuf Kalla further indicated on 3 Stop imminent execution of five people December that the President will not grant clemency to anyone sentenced to death for drug-related crimes. However, a blanket denial of all clemency Amnesty International press release 05-12-2014 applications for drug convicts on death row is clearly contrary to the The Indonesian government’s apparent plans to execute five people by the end internationally recognized right of all death row prisoners to apply for a pardon of the year must be halted immediately, Amnesty International said today. The or commutation. organization urged the government to impose a moratorium on the On 4 December, Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, Minister for Coordinating Political, Legal implementation of the death penalty with a view to its eventual abolition. and Security Affairs, told local media that another 20 death row inmates would Local media reports indicate that the five death row prisoners have now been be executed in 2015, the majority of whom have been convicted for drug-related moved into isolation, as preparations for their executions begin. Indonesia’s offences. Junior Attorney General for General Crimes, Basyuni Masyarif, last week “It is deeply disturbing that drug convicts are at risk of execution. Drug-related confirmed that the government is planning to execute five people before the end offences do not match the standards set out in international law, which only of the year. allow the death penalty for the ‘most serious crimes’. The authorities should “The government must immediately halt plans to carry out executions. Given instead reduce the scope of the death penalty as a step towards abolition,” said President Joko Widodo’s campaign commitments to improve respect for human Rupert Abbott. Indonesia resumed executions in 2013, putting five people to rights, resorting to the death penalty would be a serious stain on the early human death, after a four-year suspension in the implementation of the death penalty. rights record of his adminsitration,” said Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s No executions have so far been carried out in 2014. Research Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of the right to “Tackling serious crime is a legitimate objective for the new administration, but life, as recognised by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and as the this is the wrong way to go about it – the death penalty does not work as a ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. The organization opposes deterrent to crime.” “Any executions will also certainly undermine the the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature or government’s efforts to protect Indonesian nationals on death row overseas.”

Weekly Update Human Rights in Indonesia – 08-12-2014 circumstances of the crime; guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the On the occasion of Human Rights Day, Human Rights organization KontraS individual; or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. organized a meeting of victims and their relatives of violence by the police. From all over the country people had come to the meeting to make their story public.

Women’s rights Deputy Coordinator for Advocacy of KontraS Yati Andriyani, said that maltreatment is also being documented that is carried out by soldiers and prison When humans become a commodity guards. The documentation of KontraS shows that numbers are rising over the years. According to Yati the maltreatment is being carried out in the context of Kompas, 07-12-2014 getting confessions from suspects.

Disappearances unresolved KontraS, FIDH, 28-11-2014

The Indonesian government must step up efforts to investigate all cases of enforced disappearances and hold the perpetrators accountable, FIDH and its member organization KontraS said today. The two organizations made the call on the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Dedek Khairudin, a 31-year-old fisherman who was taken by local armed military personnel from his home in Hundreds of ID-cards of workers from several provinces have been confiscated by the police in Pangkalan Brandan, North Sumatra, on 28 November 2013. Medan, from the Maju Jaya Company, a company that provided household assistants, allegedly based on human trafficking. Seven suspects have been arrested on the indictment of maltreatment and even murder of the workers. Since 2006 the company would have offered hundreds of workers to a “The government’s failure to determine Dedek Khairudin’s fate or whereabouts growing number of Medan middle class households, and to households abroad. The victims were and deliver justice to his family is the latest example of a decades-long trend of originally from densely populated provinces on Java and Madura. impunity for perpetrators of enforced disappearances in Indonesia,” said FIDH President Karim Lahidji.

Police accountability According to Dedek Khairudin’s family, the soldiers detained him because they believed he knew where a suspect in the stabbing of a soldier was hiding. On 29 Human Rights Day: police abuse November 2013, Dedek Khairudin’s family visited police and military Kompas, 07-12-2014 headquarters in Pangkalan Brandan to ascertain his whereabouts. Both the police

Weekly Update Human Rights in Indonesia – 08-12-2014 and the military informed the family that he was not in their custody. Dedek’s of Representatives deputy speaker Priyo Budi Santoso and former lawmaker Ibnu whereabouts remains unknown to this day. Munzir, who have all recently criticized many of Aburizal’s missteps including his failure to secure victory in this year’s legislative election. On 10 October 2014, a military court found five army soldiers guilty of abducting Dedek and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 14 to 17 months. A sixth Yorrys, the congress’ lead organizer, claimed that representatives from 384 out of soldier was acquitted of the crime. During the trial, the accused soldiers claimed 560 Golkar chapters and branches joined the congress, allowing the meeting to that they had released Dedek unharmed. The trial was conducted in a non- meet the quorum as stipulated by the party’s internal rules. He also said the transparent manner. Information on the trial schedule was not publicly released congress would schedule, among other items, the evaluation of Golkar’s and access for independent monitors to attend the proceedings was difficult. performance in the past five years and the election of a new party chairman.

FIDH and KontraS call on the Indonesian government to thoroughly investigate “However, unlike the other congress, this congress will allow [Golkar] Dedek Khairudin’s case and all other unsolved cases of enforced disappearances. chairmanship candidates to transparently share their vision and mission in front It is imperative to bring those responsible to justice and provide reparations to of congress participants,” Yorrys said, referring to Golkar’s recent congress in victims and their families. Bali, which unanimously supported Aburizal’s reelection despite wide criticism of his dismal performance.

Political developments Golkar, now the country’s second-largest political party, currently remains outside the government coalition — the first time in its 50-year history it has not The Golkar split been in government, after Aburizal directed the party to support the unsuccessful presidential bid of Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto. Following the The Jakarta Post, 07-12-2014 defeat, Golkar joined the opposition Red-and-White Coalition, with Aburizal Only two days after securing his reelection as Golkar Party chairman, Aburizal being appointed as coalition leader. Expectations were high that a leadership Bakrie now faces fresh challenges to his leadership after a breakaway faction in change in Golkar would allow the party to join the ruling coalition led by the the party kicked off on Saturday a rival congress to establish its own version of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). the party leadership. A few days before the Bali congress, Agung, Priyo and several senior Golkar Taking place at a convention center in Ancol in North Jakarta, the three-day politicians established the “Presidium of the Golkar Party’s Saviors”. Both camps congress has been organized by senior Golkar politicians, including former Golkar have since maintained the legality of their respective leaderships. deputy chairman Agung Laksono, former executive Yorrys Raweyai, former House

Weekly Update Human Rights in Indonesia – 08-12-2014

As of Saturday evening, Priyo, Agung and lawmaker Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita had announced their intention to contest the Golkar leadership vote in the current congress. Priyo also claimed the congress had received an endorsement from Vice President, and former Golkar chairman, Jusuf Kalla.

“Three days ago I, Pak Agung and Pak Agus met with Vice President Jusuf Kalla to discuss many issues [related to the party]. He gave us his support to hold this congress,” he said. The opposition camp initially planned to hold its own version of a national congress in January but decided to bring it forward after deciding that Golkar’s position had been undermined by Aburizal’s reelection, Yorrys added.

The sudden changes also affected the congress preparations. Some congress participants, for example, said they had to wait several hours until the Golkar secretary-general Idrus Marham, however, said the current congress registration desk opened. The opening of the congress was also delayed from 2 would not affect Aburizal’s leadership. “We don’t consider that such a congress p.m. to 7.30 p.m. due to the late arrival of delegates. even exists,” he said.

Participants explained why they endorsed the congress. West Sulawesi Governor Anwar Adnan, who was dismissed earlier this year by Aburizal for supporting Joko Papua “Jokowi” Widodo’s presidential bid, for example, said his attendance at the congress was his way of taking responsibility for his political decision. Two soldiers killed Kompas, 04-12-2014

Two members of the Brigade Mobil (Brimob), Thomson Siahaan and Jeferson, were killed by shotgun before the district head’s office last Wednesday (03-12- 2014). Immediately after dozens of staff of the Papua special police were deployed to search for the perpetrators.