scholarly journals Confronting the Past Abuses: Indonesia and Southeast Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42
Author(s):  
Priyambudi Sulistiyanto
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Universal Model ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Real Power ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Regional Comparison ◽  
The Past

This article examines the politics of reconciliation in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. It focuses in particular on the case of Talangsari killings in Indonesia and makes a regional comparison with Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines and Myanmar. The Indonesian experience illustrates some of the complex issues that arise when attempts are made to dealing with past abuses, especially in the context of the constraints and possibilities faced by new democracies. In a comparative perspective what is being experienced in Indonesia is not new in the sense that, as argued by scholars elsewhere, new democracies also have to face this kind of situation.1 This article argues that dealing with the past human rights abuses brings about real power struggles among the contending actors and power holders and it reflects the power structures within and outside the country. It is suggested that there is no “universal” model for dealing with past human rights abuses but some form of accountability which brings together the elements of prosecution, reconciliation and forgiveness could be considered.

Dealing with the Past or Moving Forward? Transitional Justice, the Bangsamoro Peace Agreement and Federalism in the Philippines

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Jayson S. Lamchek ◽  
George B. Radics
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The Past ◽  
Land Dispossession ◽  
The Government

Abstract In the Philippines, transitional justice is plagued by questions about whether and how to deal with the past as well as whether and what kind of justice is possible in the present. In 2014, the government ended its armed conflict with Muslim secessionists by enacting a peace deal with transitional justice provisions, but also proposed federalism as a more lasting solution to conflict. This article reads the agreement’s ‘dealing with the past’ framework as reflecting a conventional approach. It then highlights continuing Muslim experiences of land dispossession and human rights abuses. It shows how transitional justice can come with uncertainty about what it means to “move forward,” what “past” to overcome, and how the past is related to “justice.” Furthermore, it argues that as the country increasingly veers towards authoritarian rule, conventional applications of transitional justice are further impeded. It explores how federalism receives more enthusiastic support than transitional justice.

The “Legacy Problem” and Democratic Consolidation in South Korea and the Philippines

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nae Young Lee
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
Arduous Task ◽  
Power Base ◽  
New Democracy ◽  
The Military

New democracies face the arduous task of determining how to deal with gross human rights violations committed during their authoritarian pasts, or the “torturer problem,” to quote Samuel P. Huntington (1991). A new democracy can enhance its legitimacy if it brings human rights violators to justice, thus demonstrating the supremacy of democratic values, including the rule of law. By ensuring that no wrongdoer will go unpunished, the democratic regime prevents the danger of a future military coup d'état and future human rights abuses. Equally critical, it strengthens the power base of democratic forces by delegitimizing or even occasioning a purge of key authoritarian leaders, who often wield influence within the institutions of power, including the military, even after democratic transition. Punishing past wrongdoings constitutes an act of preempting a democratic reversal. In this sense, the question of the past becomes a struggle over power with today's authoritarian forces and for the future of third-wave democracy.

The Experience of Volunteers and Frontline Workers in Marginalized Communities Across Southeast Asia

2019 ◽  
pp. 93-111
Author(s):  
Chuah Siew Mooi ◽  
Ann Nicole Nunis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Frontline Workers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Stigma And Discrimination ◽  
Hiv Aids

This chapter focuses on the experience of volunteers and frontline workers who serve in marginalized communities across Southeast Asia. More frontline workers and volunteers are taking the initiative to support marginalized communities in the region. With the rise of human rights violations towards marginalized communities in the past decade, frontline workers and volunteers face unique experiences in working with these communities, ranging from stigma and discrimination to unaddressed levels of burnout. Based on the authors' experiences working with these communities and the summary of the interviews with fellow frontline workers, the experience of working with marginalized communities, particularly those affected by HIV/AIDS and refugees, are elaborated in this chapter. Current challenges as well as recommendations are highlighted to ensure that the frontline workers and volunteers are supported throughout their vital work towards society.

DOMESTICATING IMPERIALISM: THE FASHIONING OF POLITICAL IDENTITY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-204
Author(s):  
Simon Philpott
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
School Children ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
East Timor ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Indonesian Government ◽  
Car Park ◽  
First Time

Upon arriving at Denpasar airport in June 2000, I was greeted by an Australian friend who had recently married a Balinese man. The latter, within moments of our meeting for the first time, challenged me about my having been a UN accredited observer of the independence plebiscite in East Timor some ten months earlier. His was an impassioned if, in my view, not terribly well informed view of the torturous relationship between the former Portuguese colony and the Jakarta-based Indonesian government. My interlocutor insisted that East Timor's future ought to have remained an entirely Indonesian matter and that foreign involvement simply demonstrated the determination of the international community to break up Indonesia. The discussion proceeded as we made our way across the airport car park, and became even more heated when I suggested that it was important not just to consider former President Habibie's motivations for offering a plebiscite but also the record of Suharto's government in laying the ground for an East Timorese departure. Perhaps rather tactlessly, I suggested to my new acquaintance that he reflect upon the dreadful human rights record of the Indonesian military in East Timor. If a response was what I was seeking, I certainly found one. Wayan flashed back at me that he knew with certainty tales of human rights abuses were a lie concocted by hostile countries because the East Timorese had made clear their wish to remain part of Indonesia. Upon further pressing, he argued that the fact East Timorese school children sang the same songs as children from all over the archipelago was evidence of their love for Indonesia and their desire to remain integrated. I was somewhat nonplussed with this turn in discussion and rather unsure as to how to proceed. Could he, I wondered, really believe something that seemed so palpably absurd?

scholarly journals Contours of National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights in Central and Eastern Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 174-186
Author(s):  
Jernej Letnar Černič
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The Past ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Wide Range

Central and Eastern Europe has been often overseen in the debates on business and humanrights. Countries in the regions share a common history, experience and culture. Human rights andfundamental freedoms were in the past systematically and generally violated. Since democratisation,countries have suffered from a wide range of related human rights abuses. Corporations in theregions have often directly and indirectly interfered with the human rights of employees and thewider communities. Business and human rights has in the past lagged behind global developmentsalso in the light of the lack of capacity and general deficient human rights situation. This articledescribes and discusses contours of the National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights of theCzech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Georgia, Ukraine and Slovenia by examining their strengths anddeficiencies. It argues that the field of business and human rights in Central and Eastern Europe hasmade a step forward in the last decade since the adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principleson Business and Human Rights. Nonetheless, human rights should be further translated into practiceto effectively protect human dignity of rights-holders.

scholarly journals Obtaining Damages for Corporate Human Rights Violations in Investment Arbitration Through a Procedural Lens

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmin S
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
The Past ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Violent Acts ◽  
Public Scrutiny ◽  
Investment Law

Over the past decades, transnational corporations have come under increasing public scrutiny for their involvement in human rights abuses, particularly in developing countries. One may think of violent acts against local communities, slave labor, and grand scale environmental pollution. International investment law protects and safeguards the rights of foreign investors but falls short of holding them accountable to societies where they operate. Recently, a few arbitral tribunals have grappled with the question of whether corporations can be held accountable for illegalities that constitute human rights violations inflicted upon the host state or its people. This article discusses the arbitral treatment of corporate human rights violations by investment tribunals in three treaty-based cases: Copper Mesa v. Ecuador, Burlington v. Ecuador and Urbaser v. Argentina and draws on recent scholarly work on causation in investor-state arbitration to evaluate their approaches.

Post-Manila US pivot may be coming to South-east Asia

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
East Asian ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Philippine Government

Significance US policymakers feel there is sufficient support for the United States elsewhere in the Philippine government and population to erode Duterte's threats to unravel the alliance. Nonetheless, Washington is considering alternative South-east Asian partners. Impacts Japan's role as an interlocutor between Manila and Washington on security issues could grow. Duterte might meet outgoing President Barack Obama in Peru at the November 19-20 APEC meeting. However, should this occur, it is unlikely to improve Philippine-US ties much if at all. Rumours of human rights abuses in the Philippines will anger US members of Congress, further deteriorating ties.

scholarly journals Introduction: States, Critical Citizens, and the Challenge of Democratization in Southeast Asia

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-142
Author(s):  
LILY ZUBAIDAH RAHIM ◽  
JULIET PIETSCH
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The Political ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Critical Citizens ◽  
Freedom House

The political trajectories in Southeast Asia are much more complex than neat theoretical models would suggest. In particular, the diverse experience of post-authoritarian states are far from linear – often moving forward, backward, and forward again, or stalling for a number of years. Political trajectories can thus be uneven and erratic, as exemplified by Thailand's military coups, graduating from hegemonic to competitive electoral authoritarian rule in Singapore and Malaysia and lingering within the zone of low-quality democracy as characterized by Indonesia's poor governance and neo-patrimonial dynamics. Indeed, since 2014, Freedom House no longer classifies Indonesia as ‘Free’, following the passage of legislation restricting the activity of civil society and the human rights violations against religious minorities. Similarly, Thailand lost its ‘Free’ ranking in 2006 and the Philippines in 2007.

The Suharto Case

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 214-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiwon Suh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
National Commission ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The Past ◽  
Study Team ◽  
Political Capabilities ◽  
The Impact

How could Suharto avoid prosecution for human rights abuses? For a preliminary answer, this paper provides an account of a specific and observable failure: The failure of the Suharto study team, a Komnas-HAM (National Commission of Human Rights) initiative to put the atrocities of the Suharto era on the human rights court track. It begins with prosecutorial approaches toward past abuses and a lack of coordination over transitional justice strategies in Indonesia as the background to Suharto’s non-prosecution. Then, it proceeds to trace the Suharto study team’s life in 2003 until its defeat. The fate of the Suharto team highlights the dilemma of timing between public attention and political capabilities in transitional justice. Five years after Suharto stepped down, legacies from the past prevented progress in the case, while the impact was far from explosive when new commissioners of the Komnas-HAM finally announced the findings of gross violations in 2012.

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