JAKARTA, RAKYAT NEWS – Human rights organizations, including KontraS, Paguyuban Keluarga Korban Talangsari Lampung, Amnesty International Indonesia, and Asia Justice and Rights, have strongly condemned the Indonesian government for its continued neglect of the Talangsari Tragedy. Despite decades of legal efforts, victims of this grave human rights violation have yet to see justice.

February 7 marks the 36th anniversary of the tragedy, which took place in Talangsari III, Rajabasa Lama, East Lampung. At least 246 people were killed in the incident, while many others were tortured, forcibly disappeared, and detained without due process.

In 2008, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) declared the Talangsari Tragedy a serious human rights violation. This designation, under the 2000 Human Rights Court Law, triggered legal proceedings. However, the victims have yet to receive substantive justice or any meaningful acknowledgment of the truth.

The rights groups emphasize that the government’s response to Talangsari has been far from adequate. Rather than pursuing a thorough legal process, the state has taken shortcuts that undermine the dignity of the victims. These shortcuts include a unilateral “peace declaration” by the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs in 2019, a joint commitment on infrastructure improvements in 2020 that ignored the victims’ rights, and a non-judicial settlement focused solely on material assistance in 2022.

Such actions suggest the government is treating the Talangsari Tragedy as a non-serious crime, rather than as a case of state-sanctioned abuse of power. This is compounded by the government’s current administration, which is reportedly seeking to avoid accountability for Talangsari by proposing to resolve the case through the Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (KKR).

This proposal has raised concerns among human rights organizations, who believe it serves to protect the perpetrators from facing justice. They argue that the absence of a commitment to addressing past human rights violations in the government’s agenda only reinforces this perception.

The coalition insists that reconciliation is not a replacement for a judicial process and must be based on structural reforms that ensure justice for the victims. This includes the transparent disclosure of facts, the identification of perpetrators, and the acknowledgment of the victims’ suffering. Without truth and transparency, any attempts at reconciliation will only further obscure the reality of what happened.

The human rights organizations stress the importance of revealing the truth to prevent historical manipulation and to support the victims’ recovery. Only by fully uncovering the events can the victims and their families understand what really occurred.

As part of the 36th anniversary commemoration of the Talangsari Tragedy, KontraS, Paguyuban Keluarga Korban Talangsari Lampung, Amnesty International Indonesia, and Asia Justice and Rights have called on the Attorney General’s office to act on the findings of Komnas HAM’s 2008 investigation. They demand that the case be moved forward into the investigation and prosecution stages.

Furthermore, the coalition urges Komnas HAM to enhance cooperation with the Attorney General’s office to secure crucial evidence, and calls on the government to ensure that the victims’ rights to truth and reparation are fulfilled, including through proper memorialization of the Talangsari Tragedy.

Meanwhile, Rakyat News, which sought a response from the government, particularly the Ministry of Human Rights, did not receive a reply by the time this article was published. Phone calls to Deputy Minister of Human Rights Mugiyanto Sipin went unanswered. (Uki Ruknuddin)

 

 

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