A day to reflect on state of Human Rights in Indonesia<\/p>\n
Benny YP Siahaan, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Today we celebrate Human Rights Day, a clearly important day
\nfor the human race. Ironically, in the case of Indonesia, many of
\nus do not know that Dec. 10 is Human Rights Day, with the
\nexception of those who are involved in or have a keen interest in
\nhuman rights issues.<\/p>\n
Hence, it could be one of the signs that there is much more to
\ndo in the field of promotion and protection of human rights in
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
However, the challenge lies not only at the national level but
\nalso at the international level. The challenges posed by the new
\nmillennium have become more complex and inextricably intertwined.
\nThese new challenges includes a wide-range of conundrums from
\nterrorism to transnational crime. Indeed this is a tremendous
\nchallenge that has to be seriously dealt with by the
\ninternational community.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, apart from those problems, if we reflect on the
\nyears past, there has no doubt been progress made in the field of
\nhuman rights.<\/p>\n
There is an ever increasing understanding of human rights as a
\nuniversal language; it is a word that you can find in almost
\nevery corner of the world. Indeed, human rights, together with
\ndemocracy, has become a buzzword both in policy-making and civil
\nsociety circles over the past decades and the trend seems to be
\ncontinuing. Even a dictator who has a poor human rights record,
\nin his speech, has to put in one or two words regarding democracy
\nand human rights.<\/p>\n
In this context, although most of us now agree that human
\nrights are universal many are still of the view that this
\nuniversality of human rights has been the victory of the West.<\/p>\n
While the world conference on human rights in Vienna and other
\nsubsequent UN documents have recognized that all human rights --
\ncivil, cultural, economic, political and social-- are universal,
\nindivisible, interdependent and interrelated, they are applied
\nagainst different national and regional historical, cultural and
\nreligious backdrops, making them difficult to achieve.<\/p>\n
Indeed, at the international level the protection of human
\nrights still leaves much to be desired and a global consensus on
\nthe content and implementation of those rights often seems
\ndifficult to achieve. Thus, many quarters are still suspicious of
\nuniversality in the implementation of human rights.<\/p>\n
One of the reasons is that human rights is a fluid concept. It
\nkeeps developing. Since the coining of the term, it has been
\ndeveloping. The first generation of human rights is about civil
\nand political rights, the second generation is regarding
\neconomic, social and cultural rights. The third generation is
\nabout solidarity rights.<\/p>\n
Further, many concepts that were merely concepts and subjects
\nof discourse in the past have now become rights, such as self
\ndetermination, implying democracy and self government -- a
\nprinciple that was once thought applicable to all humankind, but
\nin recent times has brought disaster and bitter conflicts between
\nstates and within sovereign states.<\/p>\n
The persistent debate is not only whether human rights are
\nuniversal but also whether they are indivisible. If we observe
\nthe criticism of the human rights' record in one country, mostly
\nit relates to civil-political rights such as torture,
\nrestrictions to freedom of expression, etc. and seldom relates to
\nsocial, cultural and economic rights.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the rise of human rights politics in the past two
\ndecades poses a puzzle both to leaders and scholars of
\ninternational relations. Like many other states, Indonesia has
\nbeen inescapably involved in human rights politics at the
\ninternational level in recent decades. During this period
\nIndonesia has been increasingly active in participating in
\ndiscourse on international human rights.<\/p>\n
Against this backdrop, for us as Indonesian citizens, it is
\ncrucial to ask what Indonesia is doing, what it has not done and
\nwhat it should be doing in the field of human rights.<\/p>\n
After the collapse of the Soeharto regime in 1998 the
\nprotection and promotion of human rights have significantly
\nimproved. For example, Indonesia now has a liberal press and
\nbetter conditions in the field of civil and political rights.<\/p>\n
This at least shows Indonesia's commitment to the protection
\nand promotion on human rights although the most important thing
\nis its implementation. Indeed, social and economic development,
\nthe improvement in individual and collective welfare and security
\ncannot be attained or sustained without full respect for human
\nrights.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, like the human being, no country is perfect.
\nOnce you feel you are perfect, you tend to judge the human
\nrights' record of other countries.<\/p>\n
Human rights promotion and protection is not about pretending
\nto be perfect. It is about being transparent and honest about our
\nstrengths and weaknesses, and more importantly to do our best to
\nrectify them. If we continue to act as if we are perfect or
\npretend to be perfect then the politicization of human rights and
\nhuman rights politics will always prevail.<\/p>\n
The writer is an alumnus of Tsukuba University, Japan. The
\nviews reflected herein are strictly personal.<\/p>",
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