Rights body to focus on political cases<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Deputy chairman of the National Commission on
\nHuman Rights (Komnas HAM), Marzuki Darusman, says that in the
\nfuture the commission will be more \"politically oriented\".<\/p>\n
The commission will pay more attention to political cases and
\nreduce its attention to what Marzuki described as \"common cases.\"
\nUp to now, the commission has often had to deal with complaints
\non land appropriations or the effects of high-voltage power
\nplants on people's health.<\/p>\n
\"We expect to be more political-oriented in the future,\"
\nMarzuki said at a luncheon held by the Indonesian Executive
\nCircle yesterday. \"The rights commission will concentrate more on
\nhow to better supervise government's policies.\"<\/p>\n
He stressed, however, that changes in the commission's
\norientation would be made gradually.<\/p>\n
He said that the commission has started shifting its
\norientation recently by starting to deal with cases that arise
\nfrom the government's long-term policies and from poor law
\nenforcement. It has also begun to concentrate more on the
\nquestion of people's political rights.<\/p>\n
The commission has recently stated that it will review laws
\nwhich allegedly abuse human rights.<\/p>\n
He cited the laws on the press, newspaper publishing licenses
\nand political parties as examples of laws which need to be
\nreviewed.<\/p>\n
The commission, together with a number of non-governmental
\norganizations, is currently making an inventory of laws which may
\ngo against human rights.<\/p>\n
Commission Secretary-General Baharuddin Lopa said last week
\nthat the commission has made a list of priority law reviews. \"The
\ntop priority is a review of the anti-subversion law,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Marzuki said the commission is currently kept busy with common
\ncases like land and labor disputes.<\/p>\n
He said that the commission has received reports on more than
\n4,000 cases since it was established in 1993. \"We receive two to
\nthree reports a day,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The commission was established under Presidential Decree No.
\n50\/1993. The decree states that the rights commission will only
\nmake recommendations in settling disputes and avoid interfering
\nin cases which are already heard by the courts.<\/p>\n
Twenty-five Indonesians from various fields were appointed as
\nthe commission's members. Former Supreme Court chief justice Ali
\nSaid was appointed commission chief.<\/p>\n
A number of members of the House of Representatives recently
\ncriticized the rights commission for having acted beyond its
\nauthority and areas of responsibility.<\/p>\n
Marzuki said several tasks of the commission can be handled by
\nthe political parties, the House or legal institutions.<\/p>\n
Marzuki called for political reforms yesterday in order to
\nimprove the commission's performance.<\/p>\n
\"The rights commission will do better in a more conducive
\npolitical condition,\" he said, as quoted by Antara.(imn)<\/p>",
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