Towards Post-Transitional Justice
The Failures of Transitional Justice and the Roles of Civil Society in Indonesia
Abstract
When democratization took place in 1998 after three decades of authoritarianism in Indonesia, transitional justice became one of the agendas for the country. With the nature of compromised political transition, transitional justice brought together the interest of the elements who wished to challenge the repressive regime, and those who wished to distant themselves from the old regime in order to return to politics. As the result, transitional justice measures were successfully adopted in the beginning of political transition but failed to achieve its goals to break with the old regime and bring justice to victims. Today, after twenty years since reformasi, elements of the politics are consolidated, including those coming from the old regime. Transitional justice is undergoing a period I refer as “post transitional justice”. The main character of this state is the extensive roles of civil society. I argue in this paper that civil society, in particular the human rights groups, have important roles since the beginning of the transition in setting the agenda for transitional justice until today when state-centered mechanisms failed and led to post-transitional justice situation. These groups shift strategies to work from below and from the margins, which give strong character for post-transitional justice in Indonesia.
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Crocker, David. “Transitional Justice and International Civil Society: Toward a Normative Framework” (1998) 5:4 Constellations 492.
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Gready, Paul & Simon Robins. “Rethinking civil society and transitional justice: lessons from social movements and ‘new’ civil society” (2017) 21:7 The International Journal of Human Rights 956.
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Nyman, Mikaela. Democratising Indonesia: The Challenges of Civil Society in the Era of Reformasi (Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2006).
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Payne, Leigh A & Kathryn Sikkink. Transitional Justice in the Asia-Pacific: Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives, Renee Jeffery & Hun Joon Kim, eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014).
Pohlman, Annie & University of Queensland. “A Year of Truth and the Possibilities for Reconciliation in Indonesia” (2016) 10:1 Genocide Studies and Prevention 60.
Pratikno, Cornelis. Komnas HAM 1993-1997: Pergulatan dalam Otoritarianisme (Yogyakarta: FISIPOL UGM, 2002).
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Roht-Arriaza, Naomi. “Civil Society in Processes of Accountability” in Ardsley M C Bassiouni, ed, Post-Conflict Justice (New York: Transnational Publishers, 2002).
Setiawan, Bonnie. “LSM sebagai Kekuatan Sosial Baru”, Kompas (17 April 2004).
Setiawan, Ken. Promoting human rights: national human rights commissions in Indonesia and Malaysia (PhD Dissertation, Leiden University, 2013) [unpublished].
Skaar, Elin. Explaining Post-Transitional Justice: The Role of Independent Courts (Place: CMI, 2009).
Suh, Jiwon. The Politics of Transitional Justice in Post-Suharto Indonesia (PhD Dissertation, Ohio State University, 2012) [unpublished].
Surat Ketua Mahkamah Agung (Letter of the Chair of Supreme Court), No KMA/403/VI/2003
Teitel, Ruti. “Transitional Justice Genealogy” (2003) 16 Harvard Human Rights Journal 69.
United Nations. The Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in Conflict and Post Conflict Societies, Report of the Secretary General (New York: Commission on Human Rights, 2004).
United Nations. Updated set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity (New York: Commission on Human Rights, 2005).
Van Zyl, Paul. “Promoting Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Society” in Security Governance in Post-Conflict Peace Building (Geneva: Center for Democratic Control of Armed Forces, 2005).
Wahyuningroem, Sri Lestari. From State to Civil Society: Transitional Justice and Democratization in Indonesia Australian National University, 2018) [unpublished].
Wahyuningroem, Sri Lestari. “Justice denied?”, (16 July 2016), online: Inside Indonesia https://www.insideindonesia.org/justice-denied.
Wahyuningroem, Sri Lestari. “Seducing for Truth and Justice: Civil Society Initiatives for the 1965 Mass Violence in Indonesia” (2014) 32:3 JSAA 115.
Wahyuningroem, Sri Lestari. “Working from the Margins: Initiatives for Truth and Reconciliation for Victims of the 1965 Mass Violence in Solo and Palu” in The Indonesian Genocide of 1965: Causes, Dynamics and Legacies (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) 335.
Wieringa, Saskia E. “The International People’s Tribunal on 1965 Crimes against Humanity in Indonesia: An Anthropological Perspective” in Andrew Byrnes & Gabrielle Simm, eds, Peoples’ Tribunals and International Law, 1st ed (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018) 107.
Zurbuchen, Mary S. “History, Memory, and the ‘1965 Incident’ in Indonesia” (2002) 42:4 Asian Surv 564.
Published
2019-06-30
How to Cite
WAHYUNINGROEM, Sri Lestari.
Towards Post-Transitional Justice.
Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights, [S.l.], v. 3, n. 1, p. 124-154, june 2019.
ISSN 2599-2147.
Available at: <https://jurnal.unej.ac.id/index.php/JSEAHR/article/view/11497>. Date accessed: 26 apr. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.19184/jseahr.v3i1.11497.
Section
Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
