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Human rights activists criticized President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for playing down human rights violations in the country, saying it was counterproductive to reform.

Speaking before more than 500 military and police officers at a joint leadership meeting in Jakarta on Friday, Yudhoyono claimed there had not been any gross violations to rights since he assumed the presidency in October 2004.

“This is historic — a new chapter for Indonesia,” he said.

He said this record was tarnished by the torture of two Papuans by soldiers, an incident recorded in a grisly YouTube video posted in October last year. However, the president said lapses like this “could happen in the military of any country.”

“It was just one incident amid a wave of change in our country over the past few years,” he said, adding that the soldiers in the torture would be punished.

Rights advocates disputed the president’s claim, saying there were numerous rights abuse cases recorded throughout his term.

Indria Fernida, deputy chairwoman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said the president’s statement was “counterproductive toward reforms in the military and police.”

“I think the president must look at the fact that there are hundreds of cases of torture, extrajudicial killings, inhumane treatment and excessive use of force over the years,” she said.

“These cases show that there is hardly any accountability or fulfillment of victims’ rights on violence perpetrated by law enforcers and military,” Indria added. “The president has pledged that past cases of abuse would be resolved and create greater transparency. We see very clearly that these pledges have not been fulfilled.”

The Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial) said there had been at least 135 cases of excessive use of force by police officers since 2005.

Last week, Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers in Jambi, a province on Sumatra Island, shot unarmed farmers they thought were attempting to steal palm oil from a plantation.

The National Police had issued a regulation last year allowing its officers to use live bullets to control “anarchic situations,” particularly in rowdy demonstrations.

Human rights activists said the decree violated the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, which Indonesia ratified in 1990 but left unimplemented.

Indonesia has also adopted the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, but the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) recorded more than 150 cases of the maltreatment of prisoners or suspects last year.

Sophie Richardson, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, expressed concern over the numerous cases of impunity in Indonesia.

“It is hard to get real justice in Indonesia if you are a victim of violence perpetrated by the military,” she said by phone from New York.

The international human rights organization has urged the US government to review its renewed ties with the Kopassus special forces, accused of killings in East Timor and Papua, among other rights violations.

The US imposed a training ban in 1999 against Kopassus for its alleged abuses, but it lifted it in July last year.

“Although the perpetrators in the [Papua] video were from Kostrad [the army’s Strategic Reserve Command], part of the reason the ties were restored was because Indonesia assured the US that they have reformed,” Richardson said.

“And we see time and time again that this is hardly the case at all. If the video had not received international condemnation, would there be any trial at all? These are some of the indications that there had not been any changes inside the military.” Armando Siahaan & Nivell Rayda