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The National Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to issue a decree on the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal in connection with the 1997 forced disappearance of pro-democracy activists.

“Komnas HAM hopes that a presidential decree will be issued. We will continue to monitor this case,” Komnas HAM Chairman Ifdhal Kasim said.

The activists were abducted by elements in the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) prior to the fall of then-President Suharto in 1998.

During a September plenary session, the outgoing House recommended that the president form a human rights court to bring the abduction cases to trial.

The government was also urged to discover the fate of the 13 kidnapped activists who remain missing, to pay compensation to the families and to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

Ifdhal said the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal would be a major breakthrough in the settlement of a case that began when the rights commission handed its findings to the Attorney General’s Office years ago.

Family members of the missing, along with human rights campaigners, also met with House Speaker Marzuki Ali and Benny K. Harman, the chairman of the House’s security commission. They asked the House leaders to urge the government to act upon the commission’s findings.

“We hope the new House can ensure the recommendations are put in motion by the government as soon as possible,” said Haris Azhar, vice coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

It was Kontras’s former chairman, Munir Said Thalib, who first led the investigation into the abductions, which eventually led to the ouster of Muchdi Purwopranjono as Kopassus chief.

Munir was found murdered by arsenic poisoning on board a Garuda flight in September 2004. Muchdi was tried — but acquitted —as the mastermind behind the 2008 murder.

Haris said that the families of the missing needed their lawmakers to show the moral and political courage to pursue justice in the case.

Sipon, the wife of missing activist Wiji Thukul, asked whether the government could issue a certificate stating that her husband was a victim of the state.

“I have been asked to make a letter informing the authorities I’m a widow, but I don’t have an official certificate stating that my husband has indeed died,” she said.

Sumiarsih, the mother of activist Norma “Wawan” Irawan — one of 17 who died when soldiers fired into a pro-democracy rally in what is now known as the 1998 Semanggi Tragedy — said Yudhoyono’s speeches during his election campaign felt like a “breath of fresh air” for the victims’ families. “I will not give up seeking justice,” she said.

In August 1998, the Armed Forces dismissed then Kopassus officials Prabowo Subianto, Col. Chairawan and Muchdi.

No charges were brought against the three.