Human rights in a 'So what, gitu loh' country<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Let me save you the suspense of having to look up the dictionary
\nor Wikipedia as the Internet-savvy people usually do. So what,
\ngitu loh (So what, there you go) is a popular expression among
\nyoung people in the capital, an effective response when they are
\ncornered with the "whys".<\/p>\n
Let's not blame the young people for their ignorance -- both
\nfor the improper use of language and their need to evade
\nresponsibilities with meaningless excuses -- the phrase was not
\ninvented overnight.<\/p>\n
For decades the country has so often seen meaningless excuses
\ngiven by the government regardless of the regime in the case of
\nmishaps where the government fails to give a quick response that
\nmay have saved the lives of many.<\/p>\n
Civilians have become collateral damage in armed conflict,
\npeople living in isolated areas often die of famine,
\nundernourishment and plague. Children drop out of schools because
\neducation is just not for all and women only have limited access
\nto protection from sexual abuse or domestic violence as well as
\nto sources of income, not to mention politics, for example.<\/p>\n
The abuse of people's basic rights, indeed, is always
\nassociated with the government or the small number of people with
\npower against the weak majority. But please keep in mind that
\nthis nation is a quick learner, in the same speed they will
\ncompletely forget about history and past experiences.<\/p>\n
Still fresh in our minds is how furious human rights fighters
\nwere when the government issued the antiterrorism law five years
\nago that allows arbitrary arrest of suspects without immediate
\nlegal aid.<\/p>\n
The excuse given at that time was: "The nature of terrorism
\nitself is the abuse of the basic rights of so many people to live
\nwithout fear. So what's wrong with reducing their rights to legal
\nprotection?"<\/p>\n
The antiterrorism law has become an oxymoron.<\/p>\n
Although there have not been reports on torture of terrorist
\nsuspects in detention or in imprisonment, the people have taken
\nover the authority of meting out social punishment on terrorist
\nsuspects and those who are declared terrorists, and their family
\nmembers.<\/p>\n
It was a sad day for the parents of the young man involved in
\nOct. 1 bombing in Bali when they buried their son in a public
\ncemetery for the unknowns in Jakarta, as the people in their
\nhometown in Central Java refused to have a terrorist buried too
\nclose to their front doors.<\/p>\n
The wives and children of terrorist suspects lost their social
\nand school lives as friends and neighbors shut them out, treating
\nthem not much better than a pest. Maybe the young Indonesian wife
\nof Malaysian fugitive Noordin M. Top, the mastermind of a series
\nof bomb attacks in the country, is luckier than the rest behind
\nbars.<\/p>\n
And what an unfortunate gift for those who look like the
\nterrorist fugitives because bystanders on the street may beat you
\nwithout further ado and drag you to the police station until the
\nintelligence officers finish the paperwork and realize that the
\nyoung man's face is in fact not like those on the flyers.<\/p>\n
People within one community -- even in villages -- spy on
\ntheir neighbors, not leaving pilgrims who are staying in mosques
\nin transit as is the traditional practice, in peace.<\/p>\n
So, what? They may be carrying bomb materials in their bags
\nand they may be here to recruit bombers, the residents argued.<\/p>\n
There were also ideas floated by the government of taking
\nfingerprints of students from all Muslim boarding schools and of
\nimposing a moratorium on the establishment of more such boarding
\nschools, which the government soon refuted, claiming that the
\nideas originally came from several Muslim preachers.<\/p>\n
It is not clear why the government did not see those ideas as
\nflawed in the first place.<\/p>\n
The bird flu scare provided us with an interesting example of
\nhow human rights abuse took place.<\/p>\n
Parents demanded the school dismiss a cured bird flu patient
\nand forbid their children from playing with the surviving members
\nof the family. Some even moved their children away from the
\nneighborhood. Little did they know that they have to vaccinate
\ntheir birds or pet chickens which may be the source of the fatal
\ndisease, while, on the other hand neighbors have been trying to
\nreach the husbandry agency to put the birds on the next culling
\nlist.<\/p>\n
A little knowledge is dangerous, they say. When the residents
\nare not aware of what is wrong and what is right, the
\nresponsibility is in the hands of the government to step in.<\/p>\n
It is high time that all of us realized that beating women and
\nchildren, burning a small-time thief alive or embezzling funds
\nmeant for the needy are all human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
The International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10 passed with
\nlittle significance, hopefully because the government was too
\nbusy in dealing with itself.<\/p>\n
Or was it because the government does not have anything to
\nsay?<\/p>\n
How can the government protect the basic rights of the people
\nwhen it fails to create an atmosphere where everybody respects
\nthe rights of others?<\/p>\n
There will be a time when so what, gitu loh becomes a thing of
\nthe past and long forgotten. It could be replaced with another
\nidiom of the same genre: problem lu (it's your problem).<\/p>\n
The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/human-rights-in-a-so-what-gitu-loh-country-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }