AFP extension
ANNOUNCEMENTS•
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has acknowledged that there have been “serious human rights violations” in the past. He referred, among other things, to the Suharto regime, which came to power in the 1960s after a coup d’état. Prior to the events, Widodo expressed regret in a speech in the capital Jakarta.
Human rights organizations and historians estimate that under the Suharto regime, which took power in 1965, at least 500,000 people were killed by violence. It involved ethnic Chinese and people accused of being Communists. Another million people are estimated to have been imprisoned in such “purges”.
“It is with a clear conscience that I recognize today, as head of state, that serious human rights violations have occurred on several occasions,” Widodo said. He was responding to a report examining human rights violations over the past few decades.
Human rights organizations are critical
Widodo cited a total of twelve events between 1965 and 2003, including student protests against Soeharto in the late 1990s. Dozens of protesters disappeared or were killed or tortured. Widodo promised reparations to the victims, although he didn’t provide further details. Demonstrations ended Suharto’s decade-long regime in 1998.
Widodo also referred to the abuses in the province of Papua, where separatists have been fighting for independence from Indonesia for decades. In 2003, dozens of civilians were killed in an army operation. The soldiers were charged with murder and assault, among other things.
According to Amnesty International in Indonesia, Widodo’s apology does not go far enough. The director of the local branch of the human rights organization said that the abuses must be addressed in court and legal consequences must follow.
