Ready To Be Questioned By The Police, Ribka Tjiptaning Asks Komnas HAM To Witness The Case Of Human Rights Violations Suharto

Ribka Tjiptaning (YouTube DPR RI)

PDI-P politician Ribka Tjiptaning said he was ready to fulfill the investigation by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police after being reported for his remarks which called the 2nd President of the Republic of Indonesia Suharto a preyer of millions of people'.

Ribka emphasized that she would not withdraw her statement and instead encouraged state investigations to reopen the findings of past human rights violations.

"I am ready to be examined to prove my words are true that Suharto is not worthy of being a hero," said Ribka in her statement, Sunday, November 16.

Ribka said that he would not only refer to his personal experience as a victim of the 1965 incident, but would also ask for testimony from members of the Komnas HAM Ad Hoc Team who had conducted an investigation into the tragedy. According to him, the momentum of this examination can reopen the dark historical records that have been considered obscured.

"In addition to my own experience as a victim, I will also ask for the testimony of the Komnas HAM Ad Hoc Team which investigated the 1965 incident," said Ribka.

"This is an opportunity for this nation to reopen the dark history that is trying to be closed by the Minister of Culture Fadli Zon," he continued.

Ribka assessed that the testimonies of investigators were important to ensure that the public understood the official findings of state institutions regarding alleged gross human rights violations at that time. He encouraged the legal process to open the widest possible space for facts.

"We can hear the testimony of how they found the victims of Suharto's human rights violations. Is it true or just fiction?" he said.

Furthermore, Ribka then quoted the report on the results of the Komnas HAM investigation which previously concluded that there had been a series of gross human rights violations in a broad and systematic manner.

He said the report contained findings of mass killings, forced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detention of tens of thousands of people.

"The main findings of the Komnas HAM Team at that time clearly found various forms of gross and systematic human rights violations, such as mass killings, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions (about 41 thousand people), torture, deprivation of physical independence, and sexual violence. It is estimated that around 32,774 people were missing, and several locations were identified as places of massacre," said Ribka.

He also emphasized that the report stated that the party responsible was the Security and Order Recovery Operation Command (Kopkamtib) which was directly under Suharto's command.

"Still according to the results of the Komnas HAM investigation, the party responsible is the Operations Command for the Recovery of Security and Order (Kopkamtib) which is directly under Suharto's control," he said.

Ribka said that all Komnas HAM investigation documents can be accessed by the public and are pro-judiciary investigations that should be followed up by the state. However, until now, the report is still stagnant without a clear legal process.

It can be googled and downloaded the results of the report. And that's the Pro Yustisia investigation, you know. That's according to the law's order, but until now the state has not followed up. Please look for something, "said the executive of the ad hoc team incident 65," he said.

Ribka also said that members of the investigative team were still alive and could be questioned, including several kidnapping victims in the New Order era who are currently in government.

"The team that made the report is also still there and can testify. The team leader is Nur Kholis, his deputy Kabul Supriadi, and Johny Nelson Simanjuntak and Yosep Adi Prasetyo. One by one, they can be asked to testify. Including the kidnapping victims of the Suharto era who are still alive and coincidentally are now in Prabowo's cabinet to be able to testify," he added.

Previously, ARAH reported Ribka Tjiptaning to the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police because Suharto's statement "the killer of millions of people" was misleading. "From the police, our report was well received. Indeed, there are several procedural stages such as counseling and so on. So the status is a public complaint," said the representative of ARAH, Muhamad Iqbal to reporters, at the Police Criminal Investigation Building, South Jakarta, Wednesday, November 12.

Iqbal emphasized that this report was not carried out on behalf of the Suharto family. "We just feel that Mrs. Ribka's statement is very misleading because it is not based on facts," he said