Report: Human rights concerns in Indonesia

JAKARTA, June 27 (UPI) — Indonesia emerged from four decades of dictatorship in 1998, but criminal acts against citizens and other rights violations have not ended, a report said.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), after a yearlong review, cited at least 30 incidents where citizens were allegedly brutally tortured by police and the military during interrogation and acts of intimidation, the Jakarta Post reported Monday.

The report warned the incidents were only the tip of the iceberg as most victims were afraid to report abuses.

The report said torture by police, which includes the Detachment 88 counter-terrorism squad, have included punching and kicking, being beaten with wooden blocks, suffocation and sexual abuse.

The report also identified seven cases of human rights abuses by the military.

"It still happens because the government is not serious; there is no punishment for torture acts," said Kontras coordinator Haris Azhar, the Post reported. "Military and police officers who torture are just punished with disciplinary sanctions but there is no hard punishment for torture."