Minister denies Indonesia's 1965 rights abuses happened

Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) - The Indonesian government has rejected the findings of its independent state body National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) declaring the 1965 communist purge a gross human rights violation and has refused to apologise for the victims of the atrocity.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto rejected the Komnas HAM conclusion and insisted that the mass killings, which were state-sponsored according to the rights body, were justified to save the country from communists.

"Define gross human rights violation! Against whom? What if it had happened the other way around?" Suyanto said on the sidelines of a meeting with the House of Representatives' budget committee yesterday.

Suyanto indicated that the mass killings during the communist purge were justified as they were aimed at protecting the country.

"This country would not be what it is today if it didn't happen. Of course there were victims [during the purge], and we are investigating them," Suyanto added.

After a thorough investigation lasting nearly four years, Komnas HAM finally declared the killings in the 1965 purge a state-sponsored gross human rights violation.

The investigation found that widespread mass killings had occurred during the period and featured similar patterns, starting with victims being arrested and detained in military camps, where they were interrogated, tortured, raped or murdered.

Following its investigation, Komnas HAM recommended the government set up a reconciliation and truth committee, and that a presidential apology be made to the families of victims as well as to survivors.

However, according to Suyanto, such a recommendation was unreasonable due to the lack a legal basis.

"We can't do that because the Constitutional Court has repealed the law on truth and reconciliation," he said.

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Minister denies Indonesia's 1965 rights abuses happened