Legal counsels Feri Amsari and Nanang Farid Syam at a press conference when lodging the judicial review petition of Law No. 26 of 2000 on the Human Rights Court, Wednesday (9/7/2022). Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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Wednesday, September 7, 2022 | 15:18 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—Former Supreme Court justice Marzuki Darusman, former KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission) chairman Muhammad Busyro Muqoddas, and the Alliance of the Independent Journalists (AJI) filed a material judicial review petition against Article 5 of Law No. 26 of 2000 on Human Rights Court on Wednesday, September 7, 2022. The Team for the Universality of Human Rights (U-HAM)—Themis Indonesia, the Legal Aid Institute for the central executive board of Muhammadiyah (LBH PP Muhammadiyah), and the Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers)—represented the petitioners to file the petition.

Nanang Farid Syam of Themis Indonesia said the petition was a way to protect human rights and urge Indonesia to take it seriously. Similarly, Sasmito Madrim of AJI said that the petition was filed to assert that all human rights violations can be tried in Indonesia.

“There are many human rights violations that have not been resolved. We hope this [petition] will start a discussion in the country and that serious human rights violations in the past can be resolved in Indonesia. So, there are two objectives to our visit here. First, so that global human rights violations can be resolved in Indonesia and [second] so that serious human rights violations in Indonesia can be resolved by the Government,” he said.

Sasmito explained that Myanmar’s military junta’s execution of pro-democracy activists, including journalists, was a human rights violation. He hoped that with the petition, there would be no more human rights violations in Indonesia and in other countries around the world.

“Journalists and human rights activists have been fighting to uncover human rights violations to the entire world. That is why we hope that through this legal measure, when perpetrators of human rights violations in Myanmar or other countries visit Indonesia, they can be tried in Indonesia. We wish to ensure human rights violations would not occur in other parts of the world and in Indonesia,” he emphasized.

Tribute to Munir

Meanwhile, the Petitioners’ legal counsel Feri Amsari said the petition is also a tribute to late Indonesian human rights icon Munir. He asserted that the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution mandated that Indonesia be part of world peace.

“Our (1945) Constitution actually protects the rights of everyone, hence the phrase ‘Everyone shall be entitled to fair legal recognition, certainty, protection, and assurance and equal treatment before the law’ (Article 28D paragraph (1)), and so everyone has rights to protect. In the Preamble [of the Constitution], the founding fathers dreamed of a future where Indonesia is really involved in achieving world peace and enforcement of fair law for all, not only Indonesians. Since our Constitution reflects the universality of the protection of human rights, it says ‘everyone’ not ‘every citizen.’ That is why the Human Rights Law and any other law should protect the rights of not only citizens but everyone,” he explained.

He believes it is important that Indonesia protects its fellow Southeast Asian nation, not to mention Jakarta is an ASEAN capital that leaders of perpetrators of serious human rights violations often visit.

“Indonesia’s role in the protection of universal human rights can be done if the phrase ‘by an Indonesian citizen’ is annulled by the Constitutional Court. That is why the Petitioners request the elimination of the phrase so that the human rights of the people of Myanmar and other citizens be protected,” he said.

In the petition, which obtained the petition filing certificate (AP3) No. 87/PUU/PAN.MK/AP3/09/2022, the Petitioners argue the phrase ‘by an Indonesian citizen’ in Article 5 of the Human Rights Court Law is unconstitutional. Human rights, they assert, are inherent in everyone, cannot be reduced in any situation, including by the phrase ‘by an Indonesian citizen.’ The phrase, the Petitioners alleged, disregards the values that the people believe to be within the 1945 Constitution.

The Petitioners believe the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution show that Indonesia has been sensitive to the conditions of other nations. Since the beginning, it believes in universal human rights and the enforcement of the law. As such, the phrase ‘by an Indonesian citizen’ is not in line with Article 28I paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution.

The Petitioners believe there has been a legal vacuum in the case of gross human rights violations in Asia. In the case of violence against the ethnic Rohingya, the perpetrators cannot be brought to the international criminal court since Myanmar did not sign the Rome Statute. While Indonesia is mandated by the 1945 Constitution to actively participate in protecting the world order, it has not made any effort to ensure that perpetrators of human rights violations be tried when entering Indonesia’s territory.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 11/10/2022 08:19 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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