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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000497 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Embassy Jakarta Medan Affairs Office # 02, 2007 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM ASEC ID
SUBJECT:  Baby steps towards a Truth Commission for Aceh 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  Authorities from Jakarta held a conference February 15 
in Banda Aceh to discuss issues surrounding the establishment of a 
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for Aceh mandated by the 
August 2005 Helsinki MOU and Indonesian law. Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs Director for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Wiwiek 
Setyawati Firman said the Commission must be temporary, official, 
and non-juridical.  Navy Colonel Soleman Ponto, formerly a TNI 
liaison for the Aceh Monitoring Mission, cautioned that the 
Commission should not endanger societal cohesion, lest Aceh could 
become like East Timor.  During a cameo appearance at the opening of 
the conference, the head of Aceh's provincial Syriah department 
denied human rights were a part of Islam. Though small, the 
conference is the first step Jakarta has taken publicly toward the 
establishment of a TRC for Aceh since the promulgation of the Law on 
the Government of Aceh last July.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  On February 15, MOFA hosted a one-day conference in Banda Aceh 
to discuss human rights issues and the establishment of a Truth and 
Reconciliation Commission for Aceh (Komisi Kebenaran dan 
Rekonsiliasi, TRC).  In addition to MOFA's Human Rights and 
Humanitarian Affairs Office, representatives of Aceh's provincial 
Syriah department and provincial women's empowerment office, the ILO 
Indonesia Project Coordinator for trafficking and forced labor, and 
the former GOI Deputy Secretary for the Aceh Monitoring Mission 
presented material on specific areas of interest in the human rights 
dialogue. 
 
¶3.  The first sessions of the conference were devoted to explaining 
the various UN conventions on human rights that Indonesia already 
ratified and the relevant Indonesian law implementing those 
conventions.  Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Director for Human 
Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Jonny Sinaga led the session and 
explained Indonesia's human rights obligations as set forth under 
international conventions and Indonesian law.  The conference was 
marketed as a preparatory conference for the upcoming visit by the 
UNSG's Special Representative on Human Rights and the UN Special 
Rapporteur on Torture, but Firman explained to us that all the 
background needed to be given to the Indonesian audience because 
most the civil servants did not know either Indonesia's obligations 
under the conventions nor the Indonesian laws.  She thought more 
outreach was needed before a TRC could be established. 
Specifically, she thought the Acehnese civil service needed to 
better understand human rights so they could, in turn, help make the 
TRC politically acceptable to the general public. 
 
¶4.  Al-Yasa' Abubakar, head of Aceh's provincial Syariah department, 
argued in his address that human rights are not a part of Islam 
because human rights are not mentioned in Islamic holy books. 
Rather, he said, human rights are a new idea from Europe, though 
this did not mean Syriah rejected human rights concerns.  He argued 
that some human rights problems that were still debated in the west 
had definitive answers in Islam (e.g. euthanasia and capital 
punishment).  (NOTE:  Immediately before Abubakar's presentation, 
Sinaga traced the history of human rights back through ancient 
Persia, Mesopatamia, and Hammurabi.  Nonetheless, in a follow-up 
question, someone asked whether human rights were only a European 
concept with no applicability to Indonesia.  END NOTE.)  Abubakar 
did not reject the establishment of a TRC and told us later 
discussions of human rights in Aceh had to take place in the context 
of Syariah law. 
 
¶5.   Navy Colonel Soleman Ponto, a respected former TNI liaison for 
the Aceh Monitoring Mission and GoI representative to the Commission 
on Security Arrangements (COSA), gave presentations on establishing 
a KKR in Aceh, detailing problems and mechanisms for doing this. 
Ponto said that after 30 years of conflict a TRC was needed to avoid 
a breakdown in the peace process, besides which, it is mandated by 
the August 2005 Helsinki agreement (MOU) and the Law on Governing 
Aceh (LOGA).  The problem, he noted, was to pursue the aims of the 
TRC without breaking societal cohesion in Aceh.  "Do you want to 
become another East Timor?" he asked rhetorically. 
 
¶6.  In a question to Soleman, an audience member dismissed the MOU 
as irrelevant to Aceh and demanded to know how the TRC would help 
Aceh.  Soleman answered that it would provide a mechanism to move 
Aceh forward and away from its past.  Without it, he cautioned 
again, Aceh's peace process could be threatened. 
 
¶7.  In her presentation, Firman discussed the modalities of 
implementing a TRC and pointed to the UNHCR publication, 
"Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States," as a guideline for how 
to do it.  She underscored the need for the TRC to be temporary, 
 
JAKARTA 00000497  002 OF 002 
 
 
official, and non-juridical.  Firman also stressed the need to 
balance respect for local customs and traditions with upholding 
international standards in the TRC. 
 
¶8.  Firman finished her presentation with photos and a video clip of 
alleged Malaysian abuse of Indonesian detainees.  The video clip 
showed a fit-looking guard deliver a substantial cane stroke to a 
prisoner bound to a frame.  Although the conference audience reacted 
initially with shock, during the question and answer session someone 
asked what the difference was between the Malaysian caning and 
Acehnese caning under Syriah.  When was harsh too harsh?  Clearly 
discomforted by the question, Firman argued the severity of the blow 
relegated it from punishment to abuse.  She showed the video several 
more times as evidence. 
 
¶9.  COMMENT:  Consistent with the Helsinki MOU, the Law on the 
government of Aceh promulgated last July specifically mandated the 
establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a Human 
Rights Court for Aceh.  Since that time, however, Jakarta has been 
virtually silent about the TRC, leading some Acehnese to question 
whether the TRC would be established at all.  By holding a 
conference on this sensitive matter in Banda Aceh, the GoI has taken 
a small but significant step demonstrating commitment to 
establishing a TRC.  END COMMENT. 
Heffern