Govt fights back at U.S. human rights report on Indonesia<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Hello fellows, when was the US report released and do we have its
\nofficial name -- see my bold in story -- cheers, Chris<\/p>\n
The government has denounced a U.S. report on human rights abuses
\nin Indonesia, saying Washington was not competent to make
\njudgments about what went on here.<\/p>\n
Foreign Affairs Ministry chief spokesman Marty Natalegawa said
\nthe annual report showed a \"new standard of ignorance of what is
\nactually happening in Indonesia.\"<\/p>\n
\"Human rights conditions in Indonesia should to be judged by
\nthe Indonesian people themselves and not by some bureaucrats
\nsitting in Washington,\" Marty told The Jakarta Post on Thursday,
\nwhen he was asked to comment on the controversial report.<\/p>\n
The U.S. State Department said in its annual human rights
\nreport released on ???? Indonesian security forces had committed
\nserious human rights abuses, including murder and rape,
\nparticularly in far-flung provinces where they were battling
\nseparatists.<\/p>\n
\"Security force members murdered, tortured, raped, beat and
\narbitrarily detained civilians and members of separatist
\nmovements,\" the U.S. State Department said as quoted by Reuters.<\/p>\n
The report also criticized the government for failing to
\nprotect the fundamental rights of groups ranging from children to
\njournalists to indigenous people.<\/p>\n
\"Human rights abuses were most apparent in the Aceh province,
\nthe scene of a long-running separatist revolt,\" it said. The
\nreport admitted there was some evidence military commanders
\nwanted to improve the behavior of their troops in the field.<\/p>\n
Referring to racial discrimination as a human rights violation
\nin the United States, Marty said: \"A country should be very
\nconfident of its own conduct on human rights issues before
\nassuming for itself the role of judging other countries'
\nperformances.\"<\/p>\n
The report confused the government as it overlooked the
\ndemocratization taking place in the country, Marty said.<\/p>\n
He regretted the report, saying President George W. Bush's
\ngovernment was looking at Indonesia with an outdated attitude and
\nhad disregarded significant steps the government had made to
\ndevelop the democracy.<\/p>\n
The government imposed martial law in Aceh on June 19, last
\nyear, and has deployed some 40,000 security personnel to hunt for
\nFree Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels following the breakdown of a
\npeace agreement both sides signed in Geneva in December 2002.<\/p>\n
The U.S. said there had been no improvement in human rights in
\nthe country's easternmost province of Papua, another conflict
\narea.<\/p>\n
An ambush in the Papua regency of Timika in August 2002, which
\nkilled two Americans, had become a sticking contentious issues
\nbetween the two countries, it said.<\/p>\n
A preliminary report from Washington suspected the involvement
\nof the Indonesian Military (TNI), but no one had been arrested
\nfor the incident as yet, it said.<\/p>\n
Last year, the Indonesian National Commission of Human Rights
\nlaunched a probe of possible human rights abuses in Papua,
\nfollowing the stealing of TNI weapons in the province.<\/p>\n
No report has yet been released on its findings.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-fights-back-at-us-human-rights-report-on-indonesia-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }