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Former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo AS gave his successor a parting gift on Thursday, in the form of a reminder of the recent recommendation from the House to establish an ad hoc tribunal to investigate the torture and disappearance of students, allegedly by the military.

The ministry, now headed by former chief Air Marshall (ret) Djoko Suyanto, oversees the controversial Attorney General’s Office, which has been under pressure from various human rights groups to respond to the House of Representative’s call to establish the tribunal.

During former President Suharto’s rule, 22 pro-democracy activists disappeared from 1997 to 1998. Nine of them resurfaced with accounts of torture at the hands of the military, but 13 remain missing.

A 1999 military tribunal found Prabowo Subianto, former commander of the Army’s Strategic Reserve (Kostrad) and Special Forces (Kopassus), guilty of ordering the disappearances

Prabowo, chairman of the opposition Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), was subsequently discharged from the military.

During a handover ceremony at the ministry in Central Jakarta, Widodo, who consistently failed to confront human rights cases during his five-year term, identified other challenges, such as the Papua conflict and counterterrorism programs.

“Challenges to the task of maintaining national security will be more severe in the future,” he said.

Suyanto admitted that he had yet to issue his 100-day program for the ministry, saying he “must learn about the ministry first.”

In a similar ceremony at the Ministry of Defense, newly inaugurated minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro promised to investigate sources of conflict in some regions and to work with neighboring countries on the areas of people smuggling and defense.

A third program would be a celebration of a decade of the military’s political neutrality, he said.

Meanwhile at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, outgoing minister Hassan Wirajuda said that he has confidence that his successor Marty Natalegawa was ready to handle foreign policy issues that were becoming more complex in the midst of difficult international conditions.

“I hope the ministry and embassy officials work together to support the new foreign affairs minister to carry out his job,” Hassan said.

Marty said that Hassan had set a very high standard in diplomacy over the past eight years.

"We are all now challenged to consolidate what [Hassan] has achieved and to work harder so that our foreign relations will be better in the future," Marty said.

His first job will be attending the Asean Summit in Hua Hin, Thailand. He is scheduled to leave on Friday.

Other international forums awaiting Marty this year are the APEC Summit to be held in Singapore next month and the Climate Change Summit in December.

Meanwhile, former Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto said he had left his successor Gamawan Fauzi, the governor of West Sumatra, with a lot of work, including strengthening national integration, decentralization and regional autonomy, regional development, village autonomy, people’s empowerment and guidance for the state apparatus.

“Though we have achieved some of the programs, there are still some agendas and policies that we have not fully implemented,” Mardiyanto said.

Mardiyanto said there were 14 programs that needed to be further developed. Among them were regional and state border conflicts, population management, regional autonomy and bureaucratic reform.

Population administration is another key area. With the census approaching fast, the minister must manage the registration of citizens in a more accurate way. The ministry also plans to implement a national system called E-KTP, an electronic identity card.