Indonesia's Human Rights Commission calls for new Paniai probe

Transcript

Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission has announced that it will recommend a pro-justicia inquiry into killings of four students in Papua province last year.

In the December incident, Indonesian security forces allegedly opened fire on hundreds of peaceful protesters in Papua's Paniai regency, resulting in the deaths of four Papuan students and injuries to dozens of others.

Komnas HAM's announcement comes after it conducted an initial investigation into the case, finding evidence of gross human rights violations.

It also follows the release of a video of the aftermath of the shootings, showing members of the Enarotali community carrying and cleaning the bodies of the dead students.

The students had gathered to protest over an earlier incident of violence by Indonesian security forces.

An expert in Indonesian history and politics, Dr Richard Chauvel of Melbourne's Victoria University says the announcement by Komnas HAM is a good first step in holding the perpetrators to account.

He spoke to Johnny Blades who began by asking him about the power of the state human rights body.

RICHARD CHAUVEL: It doesn't have any decision-making powers. So a report that it puts out is a piece of advice and clearly they're going to be able to assemble evidence and so on, whereas (President) Jokowi has been fairly indecisive in his responses to the killings in Paniai and subjected to fairly substantial criticisms from Benny Giay and Sofyan Yoman and others, patricularly church leaders, because he (Jokowi) did go there (Papua) for Christmas, and so was criticised in that context, for having at that stage done and said very little about Pania. So I think it's an important thing in that context. But it isn't a decision of the executive.

JOHNNY BLADES: Would you think that this is a sign that probing of this particular incident will go to the next level? Is that essentially what Komnas HAM is signalling?

RC: I think it's clearly a positive sign. Komnas HAM is an institution of the state, it'll have much greater access to witnesses, other stakeholders in the killings in Paniai late last year than a private NGO. So as an institution of the state, it's going to have the capacity to do the research, to collect the evidence and make recommendations. But it's my understanding that Konmas HAM is not a part of the executive - it's recommendations will not automatically become government policy. It is yet another input into government policy; and Jokowi, on issues relating to Papua, has been less than decisive and less clear in his direction than many of his supporters at the time of the campaign and his subsequent election would have certainly hoped for. You'll recall that during the campaign, he made various statements that suggested a much more open desire to engage with Papuan leaders in some form of dialogue, but we haven't seen very much of that, and his initial responses to the killings in Painai were pretty disappointing.

JB: But it's early days in his presidency, isn't it? He's only been there about six months or so.

RC: Yes it is indeed. And clearly he's had many pressing issues on his plate. And I think looking from outside Indonesia and from the vantage point of the Pacific, we can often lose sight of the fact that as difficult and intractable as the conflict in Papua is, it's not neccessarily at the top of the policy priority issues in a Jakarta government. It will undoubtedly take time and I think we always have to keep in mind that there are very strong, entrenched vested interests in and around the Indoesian government that support the status quo on Papua.

JB: The big question for many observers, I suppose, is will Jokowi make any inroads into this culture of impunity which has been there for so long in Papua, in terms of the conduct of the security forces?

RC: I think that's going to be a key question. Even if we see Jokowi has the best of intentions of doing so... We've just finished ten years in the presidency of a former general who came to the presidency with the reputation of somewhat of a reformer. Yet Susilo Bambang Yudhyono was able to make fairly limited inroads into that problem and towards military reform more generally.

JB: Komnas HAM has recommended the formation of this inquiry team. Do we know from past experience whether those sorts of inquiries ever end up resulting in prosecutions?

RC: Certainly, Komnas HAM on other issues has played an important role in changing the policy discussion in Jakarta with or without necessarily being a decisive influence. I said before, I think it is a positive first step in the direction of shining greater light on those killings...

JB: But not necessarily with any teeth?

RC: Not necessarily with any teeth. I think it's a necessary first step but there's quite a few steps that they're going to need to follow it.