Talangsari Victims Demand State Responsibility

The Team for the Settlement of Human Rights Violations is striving to resolve the Talangsari case in Lampung. Victims are hoping for a legal settlement of the case.

KOMPAS/VINA OKTAVIA

Chairman of the Association of Families of Talangsari Lampung Victims, Edi Arsadad (third from left) gives a statement to the media in Bandar Lampung, Tuesday (11/15/2022).

BANDAR LAMPUNG, KOMPAS — The Team for the Settlement of Human Rights Violations (PPHAM) is conducting a field inquiry in Lampung to unveil and settle the case of Talangsari, Way Jepara, East Lampung, with a non-judicial approach. Meanwhile, Talangsari victims persistently demand the responsibility of the state and the trial of security personnel involved in the shooting of residents from the group of Anwar Warsidi on 7 February 1989.

Chairman of the PPHAM Team, Makarim Wibisono, said the team was working on the basis of Presidential Decree No.17/2022 on the Team for the Non-Judicial Settlement of Serious Human Rights Violations of the Past. His team has been asked to submit a recommendation to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo concerning the rehabilitation of victims and their families as well as the prevention of serious rights violations in the country.

According to Makarim, his team has had discussions with and listened to the accounts of Talangsari victims in East Lampung. Besides, the PPHAM Team has also had coordination with the regional administration to discuss the non-judicial settlement of the Talangsari case.

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“This does not rule out the process of judicial settlement. We want to resolve this problem from the perspective of its victims,” said Makarim in a discussion in Bandar Lampung on Tuesday (15/11/2022).

The PPHAM Team, according to him, will encourage law enforcement to handle the rights violation case in Talangsari. However, the non-judicial settlement attempt is expected to serve as an alternative so that the rights of victims of the violation can be promptly fulfilled.

In the meantime, Chairman of the Community of Families of Talangsari Victims, Lampung, Edi Arsadad, said his community insisted on law enforcement to deal with the rights violation in Talangsari. He expressed readiness to show a number of pieces of evidence related to the involvement of security personnel in the killing of residents from the group of Anwar Warsidi on 7 February 1989.

KOMPAS/VINA OKTAVIA

Discussion event regarding the settlement of the Talangsari human rights violation case non-judicially in Bandar Lampung, Tuesday (11/15/2022).

Up to the present, those who have been legally processed and found guilty only come from the group of Anwar Warsidi. The involvement of the military, then under the Commandant of Military Subdistrict Command 043/Garuda Hitam, has never been investigated.

He revealed that 96 Talangsari victims and families continued to undergo stigma and discrimination. Still denied their rights to land, the victims are frequently excluded from the list of government-aid recipients. They also still bear the stigma of being members of the group of agitators.

In the military operation, 31 people were reported dead, including Warsidi.

A military operation was carried out on 7-8 February 1989 in Talangsari III hamlet, Rajabasa Lama village, Way Jepara district (which was then part of Central Lampung regency).

In the military operation, 31 people were reported dead, including Warsidi. On the military side, Captain Soetiman, then Commandant of Way Jepara Military District Command, was also reported killed.

Legal settlement

Based on an investigation by the Lampung Community Solidarity Committee (Smalam), the number of dead victims amounted to 246 people. These victims were not only members of the Warsidi group, but also residents of nearby villages.

Vice Director of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) of Bandar Lampung, Cik Ali, described the process of non-judicial settlement of rights violations as weakening the legal settlement attempt so far demanded by the victims. This also indicates the weakness of the state in dealing with serious rights violators of the past.

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In fact, he said, the National Human Rights Commission had recommended that the government and the House of Representatives set up a human-rights tribunal with the authority to examine and try rights-violation cases. Yet up to this moment, serious rights violators in the country have never been investigated.

In his view, the government remains obligated to fulfill the basic rights of residents in Talangsari. As citizens, they have equal rights to education as well as social aid from the government. As rights-violation victims, they reserve the rights to government recognition and law enforcement.

This article was translated byAris Prawira.