World's International Justice Day: Indonesia's Dark Past That Would Not Pass

Written By: Bayu Dewanto

Justice, Fundamental Basic of Human Rights

Justice is a basic right. Justice is a universal must. For many people, justice refers to the provision of giving he or she something that they deserve. This is the most basic realization of the fundamental form of justice. Just as Aristotle defined it more than two thousand years ago, he says that justice contains lawful and fair services to all individuals, in which these two characteristics of services mean that we should treat individuals the same, unless they differ in the relevant situations that they are involved with  (Velasquez, Andre, Thomas Shanks, & Meyer, 2014). This basic form of give and take principle is the most important value to maintain society's law and order. Without it, society wouldn't function properly because it would be filled with discontents and feelings of unfulfillment. 

The Dark Pasts of Indonesia

Saying that Indonesia has had a little dark relationship in the past with justice is an understatement. Indonesia is no stranger to acts of human rights violations. Wrongful acts such as bloody crackdowns, kidnappings, and genocides are all in the history books of Indonesia. 1965-1966 mass killings, 1997-1998 activists kidnapping, and The 1998 Trisakti Incident are some of the few questionable acts of human rights violations. It is not rare that these acts are headed by higher government and military officials with a certain agenda in mind. 

Because of the nature of the elites in Indonesia, it is not uncommon to have these figures go above the law and not get the appropriate amount of justice that they deserve. 'Jas Merah,' as one of the founding fathers of modern Indonesia, Soekarno, put it that we should not forget about the past (jangan sekali-sekali meninggalkan sejarah) as it serves as our reminder to not make the same mistake twice, also to honor and reconcile with our past. With that, we should not forget about the wrongful mischievous acts of injustice to honor the victims of these violations and to commemorate justice as a fundamental right of humanity. 

Role Model of Injustice

One of the dark pasts of Indonesia's injustice was the year of Soeharto's regime. To begin with, in 1965, Soeharto unleashed a controversial anti-communist purge on his rising to power after the communist party (PKI) had been alleged of staging a coup in Indonesia, this purge killed at least around 500.000 people. Furthermore, In the name of maintaining his regime, anti-government journalists and students were kidnapped, oppositions were killed and imprisoned, regions that rebel were suppressed, and justice was not fulfilled. 

Just to clarify, it was reported that Soeharto was very likely responsible for the 13 activists that are still missing to this day. Fast forward to the year 1998, the discontent and unfulfillment built overtime and it erupted in the form of mass protests and forced Soeharto to resign from his office on the 21st of May 1998 in the midst of economical and political chaos  (Rao, 2001). Despite all that, Soeharto never got punished for his crimes of injustice and he died peacefully on the 27th of January 2008  (Down To Earth, 2008).

The 21st Century, Reformation Era

Justice enforcement has come a long way in the 21st century. Ever since the new era of reformation, constitutional laws about human rights have been enforced in UU No. 39 Tahun 1999 as a form of commemoration and responsibility towards human rights in line with the Universal Declaration of Human rights 1948 (Kemlu RI, 2019). Furthermore, Indonesia also has its own court especially on dealing with human rights violations. All things considered, Indonesia may still not be able to let go and accept the past as injustice from the remnants of the late Soeharto regime may still affect how Indonesia reconciles with its dark days.