Lhokseumawe
\nIndonesia\u2019s president vowed on Tuesday to \u201cheal\u201d the pain caused by serious human rights violations by compensating those who suffered during the country\u2019s dictatorship years.
\n\u201cThis (resolution) is needed to heal the nation\u2019s pain caused by past gross human rights violations which have left a heavy burden for the victims,\u201d President Joko Widodo said Monday in northwestern Aceh province.
\nThe region hosted a nearly three-decade-long insurgency that ended in 2005 and was the site of at least three recorded mass killings that resulted in dozens of deaths.
\n\u201cThis wound must be healed immediately so we can move forward,\u201d Widodo added during a ceremony in Pidie, near a site once used by the military to torture civilians.
\nA bloody anti-communist purge in the 1960s saw half a million leftists massacred, and in 1998 dozens of student activists disappeared during mass street protests that brought down the three-decade-long Suharto dictatorship.
\nWidodo also mentioned 10 other violations that took place between the 1960s and the early 2000s.
\n\u201cThe government is now focusing on the nonjudicial resolution, which focuses on rehabilitating the victims\u2019 rights without negating the judicial mechanism,\u201d he said.
\nUnder the program, the government will provide financial settlements, scholarships, and direct cash aid for the victims and their children.
\nHuman rights activists welcomed the government\u2019s gesture but said the task was still huge.
\n\u201cThis is a step forward, better than nothing, but of course, it\u2019s not enough,\u201d Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono told AFP.
\nOne of the victims of a mass killing in North Aceh on May 3, 1999, recalled the moment that left him with lifelong trauma.
\nMurtala was 28 years old when military personnel opened fire on a crowd gathering near a paper mill in the town of Lhokseumawe.
\nThe shooting followed reports that a soldier had gone missing at a time when rebels were fighting government forces for Aceh\u2019s independence.
\n\u201cI heard shots fired, and I hid under a truck to save myself, but somebody grabbed me and hit me in the head and chest with a gun repeatedly. They also stomped on my body,\u201d Murtala told AFP.
\nHe fell unconscious when a man was shot dead in front of him. He woke up three days later in a hospital only to be told his older brother was killed in the riot.
\nThe National Human Rights Commission or Komnas HAM reported 21 people were killed in the clash, but activists claim 46 people died.
\nMurtala, also the head of the victims association, said many of them have not been identified or recognized and therefore might not receive any compensation.
\n\u201cThis is unacceptable, and this will hurt justice. We, as the victims, hope for justice to prevail,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lhokseumawe Indonesia\u2019s president vowed on Tuesday to \u201cheal\u201d the pain caused by serious human rights violations by compensating those who suffered during the country\u2019s dictatorship years. \u201cThis (resolution) is needed to heal the nation\u2019s pain caused by past gross human rights violations which have left a heavy burden for the victims,\u201d President Joko Widodo said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-340270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n