Short Obituary of Asmara Nababan by Clinton Fernandes

By Clinton Fernandes

Mr Asmara Nababan was born in Siborong-borong, a small town in North Sumatra on 2nd September 1946. He finished high school in Medan in 1964, then moved to Jakarta to go to university. He joined the Student Christian Movement in 1964. He died on 28th October 2010 in China.

As Indonesian forces were leaving East Timor in 1999, Mr Nababan was a member of the special team known as the National Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights Violations in East Timor (Komisi Penyelidik Pelanggaran HAM di Timor Timur, or KPP-HAM). It found "evidence of crimes that could be classified as crimes of universal jurisdiction including systematic and mass murder; extensive destruction, enslavement, forced deportations and displacement and other inhumane acts committed against the civilian population." It urged the "Government and the Attorney General" to ensure that crimes against humanity were investigated and punished "whoever is the perpetrator", in a free and independent manner "without any interference whatsoever."

Below is his speech at Concert at Federation Square, Melbourne, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of East Timor's ballot on independence.

It is a great honor for me to attend this very special event, namely the commemoration of the first decade of the "The Moment of Truth" when the people of Timor Leste took upon the decision to end Indonesia's occupation. The decision to end the 25 years of unremitting repression of Soeharto's military regime against the nation. The end of Soeharto's regime and the dawn of democracy in Indonesia opened the opportunity for the people of Timor Leste to finally able to take it upon themselves to decide their own destiny. This political decision is final, accepted and respected by the International Community, including Indonesia. The question of Timor Leste seemed to have been answered. It is now a State established by the support of the International Community and have embarked in the journey to deliver its people to prosperity. Thus, should one assume that the problem of Timor Leste has been resolved? The answer is, unfortunately, no.

There remains to be an unresolved issue, that of the rights of victims of human rights violations that have been committed during the occupation. We are all aware of the inquiry commissions established to put an end to this matter. The United Nations and Indonesia respectively created their own soon after the referendum, The Truth Commission (CAVR) was established by the government of Timor Lester, and the governments of the two States were also engaged in the collective effort in form The Truth and Friendship Commission. All named above had reached the conclusion that crimes against humanity had been committed by Indonesia's military and police prior to and after the referendum. These serious crimes had never been subjected to just resolution in accordance to international standards. Human Rights Ad hoc Tribunal in Jakarta as well as UN Special Panel within Dili District Court failed to deliver the justice.

The truth has been revealed and no party is denying it, yet there is a failure to pursue justice upon that truth. The political interests of both governments, Indonesia and Timor Leste, as well as that of the major players in this issue such as USA and Australia, had impeded the endeavor to uphold justice. With regards to CAVR and CTF for example - both commissions had produced reports that have been subjected to the same cold-shoulder response as the initial reaction to the Stolen Generation Report here in Australia. In Timor-Leste, the parliament has continued to delay the debate and acknowledgement of the CAVR and CTF reports. In Indonesia, although the President accepted the findings of the CTF report, there has been little follow-up and dissemination. Not many peoples in Indonesia aware of this documents and their magnitudes. The CAVR report which contains a more comprehensive accounting of the crimes committed from 1975-1999 has never been officially accepted by Indonesia. It is as if both governments decided that after revealing the truth of the horrific crimes, the people, including the victims, should just accept it and move forward with their lives without expecting any just redress to all of the atrocities.

From Indonesia's stand point, the stance to forgive and forget past crimes has been taken not only with regards to Timor Leste. There exists a long list of gross human rights violations committed by Soeharto's military regime, starting from the 65 & 66 massacre to the 1998 riots, all over the State's territory, from Papua to Aceh. The perpetrators enjoyed  impunity and even occupied public positions. Some of them were Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates in our last election. In such situation the hope to achieve justice for the millions of victims of human rights violations in Indonesia remains to be remote. Victimization of the victims continues.

The 1998 Reform initially gave the hope that Indonesia shall be able to resolve the various past crimes in just manner. That in the new political framework namely democracy the effort to promote and protect human rights could be realized. However, three General Elections later, the democracy in Indonesia remains to be procedural in nature. While it is true that the people of Indonesia to some extent enjoy greater civil liberty, but true democracy is not only about civil liberties. The establishment of genuine democracy requires which amongst others rule of law, the submission of military to civil supremacy, as well as the transparency and accountability of the elected government. In all of the aforementioned aspects, the situation remains poor. Substantively, Indonesia is still far from establishing and upholding human right based democracy.

This deficit in democracy in Indonesia has to be overcome before the state can fulfill its obligation to promote, protect and fulfill the human rights effectively, to its own people and also to victims of human rights violations in Timor Leste.

What should be done while in waiting for such deficit to overturn? It is the obligation of the international community to keep on pushing for justice for the victims of human rights violations in Timor Leste. Accountability for international crimes is the responsibility of all citizens of the world. The commission of international crimes threatens the basic foundations of our collective humanity. This is especially the case when these crimes had been perpetuated not only by the commission of a State Actor, but also by the omission of the International Community. In the CAVR report, for example, there is a section describing how the Australian government had opted to look the other way when some of these unspeakable atrocities were being committed during the Indonesian occupation. We need to learn from this past and not to repeat this choice of inaction with regards to the pursuance of justice for the victims resulted by such omission.

We are inspired by the struggle of the indigenous peoples in Australia, and those who have worked in solidarity with them, fighting for official acknowledgment and apology from the Australian government. We understand that this was an uphill battle, that the findings and recommendations of an official report on the Stolen Generation was ignored for more than a decade by the government. But the people of Australia, indigenous and non-indigenous together, staged a grassroots movement to say "sorry" acknowledging that the abduction of Aboriginal children from their families was an act of genocide. This shows that collective and persistent pressure of the people will finally result in change. This type of endeavor and pressure at national as well as international level is also what the victims of human rights violations in East Timor and other places in the world require in order for them to achieve justice. It is what needed to build a bridge to a better future at home and in this interconnected world.

Thus, it is our responsibility, in Indonesia as well as in Australia, to learn more about what took place in Timor-Leste, to read the CAVR and CTF reports, and push our governments, our societies to not wash our hands from what happened in the past. Impunity breeds new violence and new atrocities, as the perpetrators remain unpunished and unrepentant. It is already a grave error to let thousands of victims wait indefinitely for their time for justice, and it is an even atrocious mistake in a civilized community not to exert our utmost endeavour to help them attain it. To break the impunity and deliver justice to the victims, establishing International Tribunal .

This moment is the moment for us to pay our due to the People of Timor Leste, especially the victims, to ensure that at long last, justice and peace walk hand in hand in the land of Timor Leste.

Asmara Nababan
August 29, 2009
Chairman of The Board of Director of DEMOS ( Centre for Democracy and
Human Rights Study), Jakarta.