Komnas HAM: Discrepancies Between Its Mandate and the Indonesian Constitutional Framework

Abstract

Based on some reports of people’s satisfaction and assessment of the Indonesian House of Representatives Commission III on the performance of Komnas HAM in 2016, it was indicated that Komnas HAM was one of the State institution in questions because the Komnas HAM lacks a standard handling of human rights reporting. Besides issues on its internal performance impacting negatively on human rights protection in Indonesia, Komnas HAM has constraints to investigate and monitor past human rights violations as well as some recommendations were often a problem, and many institutions do not follow the recommendations made by Komnas HAM. Some tasks have not been resolved, particularly seven cases of past human rights violations, which are the Trisakti incident, Semanggi I and Semanggi II, the Talangsari, incident, enforced disappearances, mysterious shootings, massacres after the G30S/PKI incident and the May 1998 riots. This chapter observes obstacles in the implementation of human rights protection in the context of the Constitution, some problems and discrepancies between human rights laws and related laws in connection with future human rights protection with the new Commissioners, the weak power of Komnas HAM and its recommendations. This chapter also analyzes the current government regime that tends to choose non-judicial settlement as an example to apply a national reconciliation than prosecution as well as future government plans to form the Council of National Harmony (DKN). DKN is a body established to resolve horizontal conflicts internally.