The shooting of the villagers in Pasuruan
Rajawali Nusantara Corporation (RNC), having links with the Indonesian Naval Forces – Navy’s Eastern Fleet in Surabaya, cultivated a disputed land in Alas Tlogo Village, Lekok, Pasuruan, East Java. The villagers had been claiming the traditional ownership of the land for sometime.
On 30 May 2007, RNC started to cultivate the land once again, with the security provided by the Naval personnel. Around 9pm, the navy personnel came out to confront the villagers who had come to express their discontent. The villagers wanted the cultivation to be halted till the land dispute is settled legally. The navy then told the villagers that orders have been received from the superiors and the villagers were threatened with guns. They were told that they would be shot if they approached the land.
Several minutes later gun shots were heard and allegedly the navy aimed at the unarmed group of villagers. Later it was discovered that five persons, including a mother and her four year old daughter, were killed with over twenty persons injured, some of them seriously.
This shocking incident resonated in the community which sent shivers through the veins of the ordinary Indonesians. It reminded them of the horrible incidents of shootings in Talangsari, Trisakti, Semangi and other places which took the lives of innocent persons and hitherto all the perpetrators have been enjoying impunity. All attempts by the victims family and civil society, both local and international, have been vitiated by the states protection of the military. This is further aggravated by the divisions created among the members of the families of the victims through bargains, payments and promises by the members of the TNI, Indonesian Armed Forces.
The prevailing culture of impunity which gives a wrong sense of power or creates a situation conducive to the abuse of power without any legal consequences, is that which explains the alleged shooting of the ordinary villagers. The prevailing feeling within the TNI is that you can get away with anything if you have the right connection, which explains the tendency to use arms on civilians. This perception is further reinforced by the recent legal arrangement which permits the incidents involving the members of the armed forces and the civilians to be heard by the military courts. The attempts by the civil society organizations to have cases involving the members of the TNI and the civilians to be heard in the civilian courts have been strongly resisted. There is no objection for the cases being heard in the military courts. What the ordinary Indonesians are asking for is transparency, impartiality and the possibility of victims being present with their lawyers or legal advisors, which is possible only in civil courts.
Besides, if we are to go by the experience of the ordinary people, there is not a single instance where the victims received justice or the perpetrators got punished. Almost all the previous settlements by the military courts ended only in disciplinary action. When giving a legal interpretation to such illegal arrangements, one will discover that it entertains the present climate of impunity, which will continue to breed violence and death.
What the Asian Human Rights Commission would like to demand is that in this case of shooting, the prevailing chain of command be investigated so as to punish not only the persons who allegedly shot the villagers but also those who gave the orders. It is also requested that since the victims involved are the ordinary unarmed civilians, that the case be heard in civil courts after effective and impartial investigations by the police and not by the military. It is only with such affirmative action by the prosecutor, that the present culture of impunity be eliminated. In fact, if similar action by the prosecution had been taken in the previous cases of shootings by the members of the TNI, it is very unlikely that such incidents would have been repeated.
