Abuse of rights a problem in power structure<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): An outspoken human rights activist deplored the
\ncountry's poor human rights record in the past year, citing
\nyesterday the violations occurring in the top layers of the power
\nstructure.<\/p>\n
Brig. Gen. (ret.) Roekmini Koesoemoastoeti Soedjono of the
\nNational Commission for Human Rights said in a discussion here
\nyesterday that 1994 saw rife violations of human rights.<\/p>\n
\"These violations were often attached to the power structure,
\nso that the people who became its victims were helpless,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Among the strategies the commission has employed in dealing
\nwith the poor human rights record is \"establishing contacts with
\nvarious parties, and building networks, including with
\ninstitutions which we know are potential rights abusers,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Roekmini, a former legislator from the Armed Forces faction,
\nsaid her colleagues at the commission blamed the condition on
\nsociety's poor \"legal awareness and humanity\".<\/p>\n
\"I see something even worse than that ... and that is (the
\nabusers') lack of political awareness, which causes them to fail
\nto realize that their conduct will eventually destroy the
\npolitical system from within,\" Roekmini said.<\/p>\n
\"Such a condition is brought about not only by lack of
\nawareness of legal rights in the society's lower layers, but also
\nbecause of the weakness of civil society,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The discussion meant to evaluate the country's record on human
\nrights in 1994 and to forecast its condition this year was held
\nby the Indonesian Student Association for International Studies
\nin cooperation with the MASIKA student group within the
\nAssociation of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals.<\/p>\n
The other speakers in the discussion were social scientist Eep
\nSaifulloh Fattah of the University of Indonesia and Let. Gen.
\nMoetojib, governor of the National Defense Institute.<\/p>\n
The discussion listed off numerous \"human rights violations\"
\nin the country last year, including the revocation of the
\npublication licenses of three major news weeklies--Tempo, Editor
\nand DeTik, and poor treatment of workers.<\/p>\n
Eep named the controversial Supreme Court ruling on a dispute
\nconcerning land appropriation for the World Bank-funded Kedung
\nOmbo dam construction, and a lower court's judgments in the case
\nof slain labor activist Marsinah, as among proofs of human rights
\nabuse.<\/p>\n
\"There are farmers whose land was appropriated for some
\ndevelopment projects at Rp 50 per square meter ... and there are
\nhigh-ranking officials who were exonerated from involvement in a
\nbank scandal over billions of rupiah ... the past year was no
\nspring of democracy and human rights protection,\" Eep said.<\/p>\n
The discussion also pointed out that it is the feeling of
\nhelplessness, pervasively reigning over the lower layers of
\nsociety, which drives a growing number of people to lodge their
\ncomplaints with the commission, despite the public's initial
\ndoubts about the objectivity of the government-sponsored body.<\/p>\n
\"People now bring their grievances to the commission, instead
\nof to the House of Representatives,\" a participant said.<\/p>\n
Roekmini acknowledged the trend, but rejected that it
\nindicated the commission's wish to eclipse the roles of other
\nbodies.<\/p>\n
\"The commission does not want to shove the House out of the
\nway,\" she said. \"But maybe this trend emerges because the public
\nhopes that the commission will be able to solve its problems ...
\nthe public is probably frustrated because complaining to House
\nand provincial legislative councils has gotten them nowhere.\"<\/p>\n
In the past year alone, the commission received 2,276 reports
\nand complaints of human rights violations, and handled 334 of
\nthem, including those concerning land disputes and labor
\ndisputes.<\/p>\n
\"This commission is not a super body which acts as if it can
\nsolve all problems,\" Roekmini said.<\/p>\n
Instead, she said, the commission has prepared a series of
\nstrategies to help it deal with the growing caseload, including
\nby establishing networks with other, policy-making institutions.<\/p>\n
\"We have been trying to establish common perceptions on many
\nthings and establish contacts with the lower layers of society,
\nbecause we know that the real problems reside in the upper level
\nof society,\" she said.<\/p>\n
\"Don't say this commission has no strategies,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She identified at least three issues which became the root of
\nhuman rights violations in the country, including flaws in the
\n\"application of the political system\".<\/p>\n
If the superstructure in the system allows its \"lack of
\npolitical awareness\" to go unchecked, \"what will happen is a
\nprocess of deterioration, of decaying, within the system,\" she
\nsaid. (swe)<\/p>",
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