President Joko Widodo acknowledged gross human rights violations in Indonesia’s past in the clearest admission yet of the country’s darkest chapters.
(Bloomberg) — President Joko Widodo acknowledged gross human rights violations in Indonesia’s past in the clearest admission yet of the country’s darkest chapters.
“With a clear mind and earnest heart, I as Indonesia’s head of state admit that gross human rights violations did happen in many occurrences, and I deeply regret these human rights abuses,” Jokowi, as the president is known, said on Wednesday after receiving a report from the team formed to help restore the victims’ rights.
He recounted 12 events, including the abduction of democratic activists protesting against former President Suharto’s regime, the anti-communist killings in the 1960s and the armed forces’ violence against indigenous people from restive Papua province.
While Jokowi’s admission is a shift from the government’s previous stance of telling people to stop bringing up the past, the victims are still struggling to find justice as relevant legal cases stall. The government will push for non-judicial ways instead to address the victims’ plight.
“I will endeavor wholeheartedly to ensure gross human rights violations never happen again in the future,” Jokowi said. The government is taking steps to keep that promise, including by training the armed forces.
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