Rights body announces new members today<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights is
\nscheduled to announce today four new members to replace those who
\nhave died.<\/p>\n
Commission activist Clementino Dos Reis Amaral said yesterday
\nthat the new members will be selected from about 20 candidates,
\nthree of them women. Candidates names were proposed by commission
\nmembers.<\/p>\n
"The nominees come from different backgrounds, there are
\npoliticians, academics, NGO activists, retired military officers
\nand a member of the Petisi 50," Amaral told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Spearheaded by Jakarta governor Lt. Gen. (ret.) Ali Sadikin,
\nPetisi 50 is known as a group of government critics.<\/p>\n
Commission chairman Munawir Sjadzali said recently that two of
\nthe four new members will be experts in the fields of labor and
\nland disputes. He said many of the complaints filed to the
\ncommission were human rights violations in those two fields.<\/p>\n
The commission statutes say the commission formed by the
\ngovernment in 1993 must comprise 25 members with personal
\nintegrity, capability, knowledge, and commitment to improving
\nIndonesia's human rights record. Membership should reflect the
\npluralism of Indonesian society.<\/p>\n
The four members who have died are A. Hamid S. Attamimi, Ign.
\nDjoko Moeljono, former Supreme Court chief Ali Said, and police
\ngeneral Roekmini Koesoemo Astoeti.<\/p>\n
Today's election is the first by the commission since it was
\nfounded. Its first members were appointed by President Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Munawir, former minister for religious affairs and a respected
\nMoslem scholar, was elected chairman in October with Baharuddin
\nLopa serving as the commission's secretary general.<\/p>\n
The commission has won respect, even from rights activists,
\nsince its establishment and it has been flooded with requests for
\ninvestigations on a variety of cases.<\/p>\n
Last year it received 3,321 letters, more than half of them
\nrelated to rights violations in land acquisitions, house
\ndemolitions, labor disputes and torture of prison inmates. The
\ncommission helped investigate, solve or clarify 867 cases last
\nyear, up from 572 cases in 1994. (08)<\/p>",
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