'Excesses lead to violations'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto said yesterday that human
\nrights violations occur as the result of excesses happening in
\nrelation to the nation's development.<\/p>\n
\"In the process of development, the violation of human rights
\ncould happen, but this is more the result of excesses,\" the
\nPresident said during his opening address for the Second National
\nWorkshop on Human Rights.<\/p>\n
The goal of development is to enhance the dignity of man,
\nwhich is closely related to the efforts of advancing and
\nprotecting human rights.<\/p>\n
Soeharto said Indonesia does not have to reject the beneficial
\nvalues originating from outside of the country.<\/p>\n
\"As an archipelagic nation set in a strategic geographical
\nlocation we are by nature an open nation and isolation is not
\npossible,\" he said.<\/p>\n
As a member of the United Nations, Indonesia has the
\nobligation to review the world body's conventions on human rights
\nand to ratify those which are in line with the state ideology, he
\ntold the 270 workshop participants at the State Palace.<\/p>\n
Vice President Try Sutrisno and Foreign Minister Ali Alatas
\nalso attended the opening.<\/p>\n
In a similar tone, Alatas acknowledged that human rights
\nviolations still exist in Indonesia, but stressed that they are
\nin no way in line with government policy.<\/p>\n
\"We admit that human rights violations still exist, but they
\nare incidental in character and are aberrations, not a part of
\nthe national policy,\" he said in his address for the three-day
\nworkshop at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n
Every nation is plagued with this problem, he said.<\/p>\n
He expressed regret that not every nation is under attack by
\nnon-governmental organizations. He singled out the London-based
\nAmnesty International as an example.<\/p>\n
Dialog<\/p>\n
Alatas said that the agency recently launched a political
\ncampaign on Indonesia using human rights as a pretext.<\/p>\n
\"If it wants to see progress of human rights in Indonesia and
\nhold a dialog rather than heaping charges, it would not be a
\nwrong move because we are also for the improvement of the
\nprotection of human rights,\" Alatas said.<\/p>\n
\"But if the agency's secretary-general himself says that he
\nwill campaign only against Indonesia and links the violations to
\nthe political structure in the country and to its position in
\nAPEC and the Non-Aligned Movement, this should be stopped,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"We are left with unanswered questions as to why the Amnesty
\nhas been so determined to single out Indonesia for years. This is
\nsomething that we are forced to counter as it is unfair treatment
\nwhich is not in line with human rights,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The workshop is being held in follow-up to the First National
\nWorkshop on Human Rights held from Jan. 19 to Jan. 21, 1991. It
\nfocuses on issues relating to ratification of international
\ninstruments on human rights, dissemination of information and
\neducation on human rights and priority issues, such as priorities
\nin the implementation of human rights, poverty alleviation and
\nassistance of groups vulnerable to human rights violations.<\/p>\n
\"The workshop will not deal with controversial issues like
\nwhether or not human rights have universal values or not. We are
\naiming for more concrete results,\" he told reporters after the
\nopening session.<\/p>\n
Values<\/p>\n
In the opening session Alatas dismissed as baseless charges
\nthat Asian countries do not recognize the universal values of
\nhuman rights.<\/p>\n
There have been charges that ASEAN is developing its own
\nconcept of the so-called \"cultural relativism,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"And as in international fora, discussions about human rights
\nare also being politicized,\" he told participants comprising
\ngovernment officials, members of the Armed Forces, intellectuals,
\nmembers of the National Commission on Human Rights, politicians
\nand NGO representatives.<\/p>\n
Alatas said that a relatively easier method to avoid this
\nconfusion is to look back at the UN charter in which
\ninternational cooperation has been worked out. The presumption is
\nthat cooperation between two parties can work only if both
\nparties have equal status, he said.<\/p>\n
Alatas also said that Indonesia believes that there has never
\nbeen a problem between human rights and development.<\/p>\n
\"We believe that man is the central point in development.
\nHence if development is a success most of the goals to protect
\nhuman rights will accordingly be achieved,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Alatas lamented the fact that advanced countries continue to
\nlink human rights and economic sanctions.<\/p>\n
\"This is an asymmetric conditionality since no country argues
\notherwise; that is, a country plagued with a development crisis
\nmay delay its human rights protection,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said advanced countries did not encounter difficulties in
\nforcing their will on Latin American or on African countries, but
\nonly in relation to ASEAN countries.<\/p>\n
\"But we don't oppose for the sake of opposing them. We believe
\nthat ... is counterproductive for both parties,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A number of speakers, including Dr. John Pace from the United
\nNations' Human Rights Center, Dr. Muladi from the National
\nCommission on Human Rights, Dr. Saparinah Sadli of the University
\nof Indonesia, Dr. Nurcholis Madjid of the National Commission on
\nHuman Rights and Jakob Oetama of the Kompas daily are scheduled
\nto present their papers in today's sessions. (sim\/hbk)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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