Jakarta – The People's Democratic Party (PRD) and Democratic Movement Alumni Forum are demanding that the state immediately and fully investigate the 1997-98 abduction of pro-democracy activists and other past gross human rights violations.
The demands, which were conveyed to coincide with the commemoration of the July 27, 1996 affair or Kudatuli, were made during a press conference held at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) offices on Jalan Diponegoro in Central Jakarta on Sunday July 27.
"When human rights crimes are never fully investigated, and even when the perpetrators receive impunity from the state, the collective wounds of this nation will continue to fester. As a nation, Indonesia will never progress", said former PRD activist Ririn Sefsani at the YLBHI office.
In addition to Jakarta, statements was also delivered in several other cities at the same time including Magelang in Central Java, Surabaya in East Java, Palembang in South Sumatra, Samarinda in East Kalimantan, Makassar in South Sulawesi, Kendari in Southeast Sulawesi and Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
Despite the pressure to thoroughly investigate and bring the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice before an ad hoc Human Rights Court, said Sefsani, there has been no concrete action from the government to date.
It is ironic, continued Sefsani, that the state, through Minister of Culture Fadli Zon, is actually trying to deny the humanitarian tragedy that occurred in May 1998. Zon has clearly ignored the facts about the mass rapes that occurred at the time by calling them mere rumours.
Yet, citing the results of an investigation by the Joint Fact-Finding Team (TGPF), Sefsani stated that there were 52 victims of sexual violence, including rape, 14 victims of rape and abuse, 10 victims of sexual assault or abuse, and nine victims of sexual harassment.
Still based on TGPF's findings, cases were also found in several cities including Jakarta, Medan and Surabaya.
Meanwhile, the Volunteer Team for Humanity revealed that they had found more than 150 cases of sexual violence in Jakarta and its surrounding areas, including fatalities.
"Whichever regime is in power, they must acknowledge and thoroughly investigate the violence perpetrated by the state, including by the elite currently in power. Even though it feels like that hope is fading away now that the perpetrators are in power, there are people who once fought for justice, democracy, and a better Indonesia who are in fact now part of it", Sefsani said.
Extraordinary crimes
The PRD and Democratic Movement Alumni Forum stated that the abduction of pro-democracy activists, the May 1998 humanitarian tragedy and the mass rapes were extraordinary crimes and crimes against humanity that were planned, systematic, structured and massive.
Another PRD Alumni member Zainal Muttaqin, also known as Jejen, who is now active in the Indonesian Association of the Families of Missing Persons (IKOHI), added that the New Order under the leadership of former president Suharto stifled democratic space. All criticism was silenced, and they tried to eliminate the various forms of resistance. The PRD was the target of Suharto's attempt to silence this resistance.
"At the time the ordinary people who fought back had to face of the muzzle of a gun. Oppression was rampant, poverty was spreading everywhere. The stupidity of the nation was being maintained", said Jejen.
Jejen said that justice for the victims and their families has never been achieved, despite successive regimes. He even criticised the current administration, led by President Prabowo Subianto, for attempting to erase the dark history of the past.
"Led by Fadli Zon, the Prabowo-Gibran [Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka] government is attempting to erase the crimes of the New Order regime by rewriting their version of history. It is suspected that the abduction of activists in 1997-98 and the mass rapes of May 1998 will be removed from the history being rewritten", said Jejen.
Meanwhile, the younger brother of poet Wiji Thukul, who was disappeared in 1998 and is assumed to be dead, Wahyu Susilo, said that despite the decades that have passed the truth has never been revealed. This is evident from the fact that the perpetrators of human rights violations have never been brought to justice, while the victims and their families are left to bear the burden of past trauma without just resolution and reparation.
"I think what we are doing today is our effort to fight against forgetting, to reject forgetting, and to constantly ask questions about the state's crimes, which if never resolved, whoever is in power, they are the ones who must be held accountable", said Susilo.
"Today is the culmination because those in power are the ones who previously committed crimes such as the forced abductions and were also part of engineering the May '98 riots", said Susilo, who is who was also known as a migrant worker activist.
Demands
Based on this situation, the PRD and Democratic Movement Alumni Forum is demanded a number of things.
First, they are demanding the reopening of the investigations into the 1997-98 activist abductions and the May 1998 mass rapes. They are also demanded an investigation into the involvement of military and civilian figures who have been protected by state power.
Second, demanding that the recommendations resulting from the investigations by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) and/or the TGPF be implemented fully and comprehensively.
Third, urging the establishment of an ad hoc Human Rights Court on human rights crimes and ensuring comprehensive transitional justice for victims and their families.
Fourth, guaranteeing the right to proper and dignified rehabilitation for survivors of sexual violence and the families of victims of enforced disappearance, including restitution, psychosocial rehabilitation and state recognition.
"We are also demanding that there be no repeat of repressive practices using military force and the exercise of anti-democratic power in this era of reformasi", asserted the Forum referring to the era of political reform following Suharto's resignation in May 1998.
- See: Reopen investigation into 1998 enforced disappearances and mass rapes. PRD Alumni Forum – July 27, 2025
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Forum Alumni PRD Desak Usut Penculikan Aktivis & Perkosaan Massal '98".]
