Indonesia refutes U.S. rights report<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia strongly refuted allegations of abuses
\nin response to the U.S. State Department's annual global human
\nrights report which condemned Jakarta as being \"repressive\" and
\n\"authoritarian\".<\/p>\n
Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said
\nyesterday that he had not read the report, which was released in
\nthe United States on Wednesday, but nonetheless lamented the
\nconsistently biased tone of such reports.<\/p>\n
He said that the reports were \"only zeroing in on certain
\ncategories of human rights and completely ignoring other
\ncategories.\"<\/p>\n
The minister then added that in analyzing human rights one
\nmust not overlook economic, social, development and education
\nrights.<\/p>\n
\"It is regrettable also that reports such as these tend to be
\nunbalanced,\" Alatas said.<\/p>\n
The report, issued in Washington, was a severe reproach of
\nJakarta's actions.<\/p>\n
\"The government continued to commit serious human rights
\nabuses and in some areas, notably freedom of expression, it
\nbecame markedly more repressive,\" the report said, in an obvious
\nreference to the government's banning of three publications in
\nJune 1994 for editorial and administrative reasons.<\/p>\n
The report also accused the government of manipulating the
\nnational Pancasila ideology \"as a justification of restricting
\nthe developments of opposition elements.\"<\/p>\n
The report also deplored what it described as an
\n\"unjustifiably high\" army presence in East Timor and said that no
\nprogress had been made in accounting for the persons that went
\nmissing following the 1991 Dili incident, which killed several
\ndozen civilians.<\/p>\n
The exact same issues were also raised by U.S. President
\nClinton during his meeting here with President Soeharto on Nov.
\n16.<\/p>\n
Clinton's insistence on these issues was temporarily shelved,
\nhowever, as some US$40 billion worth of contracts for U.S.
\ncompanies were signed on the same day..<\/p>\n
An ambiguous American policy on human rights was evident once
\nagain when one day prior to the release of the State Department
\nreport, a senior U.S. politician spoke understandingly of
\nIndonesian policy.<\/p>\n
During a regional dialog on human rights, Senator Richard
\nLugar of the Republican Party and long-standing member of the
\nUnited States Senate's foreign relations committee, praised
\nIndonesia's concept of human rights.<\/p>\n
Hearsay<\/p>\n
At his office yesterday, Alatas told journalists of how in
\ngeneral he deplored such reports.<\/p>\n
\"We don't think that it is a good idea for governments to sit
\nin judgment over another government or people on the question of
\nhuman rights,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"If governments cannot help talking about other governments
\nand criticizing other governments about it, then at least we
\nwould hope that it is doing so on the basis of facts rather on
\nthe basis of hearsay or highly exaggerated reports,\" Alatas
\nstated.<\/p>\n
He maintained that such questions should be raised in the
\nproper way and as defined by the United Nations.<\/p>\n
\"The question of human rights is an important question but
\nthere are ways in which to deal with it,\" Alatas said while
\nalluding to the UN Charter which encourages nations to assume a
\nmore cooperative approach.<\/p>\n
The State Department also released yesterday similar human
\nrights reports reproaching China and India for their lack of
\nprogress in this area. (mds)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesia-refutes-us-rights-report-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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