2001: Human rights ignored?

2001: Human rights ignored?

Todung Mulya Lubis, Lawyer, Jakarta

This year was the beginning of a new century, the beginning of
Megawati's government. The public held high hopes that 2001 would
mark the beginning of a new awakening in the economy, law,
politics and human rights. Sadly, we have not seen any clear
signs that such an awakening is about to commence.

On the contrary, we see symptoms that there will be no basic
changes in the management of our nation, which is the return of
the centralized role of the state and the strengthening of
political stability.

There has been strong resistance from the regions who want a
bigger role, which is partly a result of the success of Law No.
22/1999 on regional autonomy. We all know that the central
government not only possesses authority on some policies, such as
foreign, security, justice and several other policies, but we
must remain alert to campaigns to revise Law No. 22/1999, which
could substantially reduce the previously expanded regional
autonomy.

In relation to the central government's authority in politics,
security and justice, we shall talk about human rights.

What has been done in the field of human rights? It seems
that the year 2001 has not given us any achievement in human
rights that we can record. Just look at the human rights
violations in Aceh, East Timor, Papua, Maluku, Poso, Sampit,
Trisakti, Semanggi, Tanjung Priok, all of which have not been
seriously handled.

This shows that the wounds and sufferings of the victims have
never been attended to. This indicates that a sense of justice
has been continuously neglected, even though the solving of human
rights cases could provide basic capital for Megawati's
government in rebuilding the nation's sense of unity. Trust
toward the government can be established if these human rights
violators are brought to court. Unfortunately, the Megawati
government cares more about the political elite, because it
believes that political support for the government will come from
the elite, especially those holding political leadership
positions. Unfortunately, the Megawati government cares more
about its good relations with the military and the police,
because it worries that bringing the human rights violators from
the military and the police to justice will weaken the country.
The Megawati government will have to pay very dearly for this
erroneous political calculation and assumption, because what is
correct is that support for Megawati's government will actually
come from the public, who will respect the government's firm
attitude if human rights violators are brought to trial.

I do not wish to be too hard on Megawati's government, as it
faces so many challenges on all fronts. Neither do I want to deny
that there will be an adhoc human rights trial for the East Timor
case, but we must honestly admit that this adhoc trial originates
from the days of Abdurrahman Wahid's government. Next, we can
also say that Law No. 26/2000 on human rights trials is the
product of Abdurrachman Wahid's government, and prior to that,
Law No. 39/1999 on human rights is a legacy of Habibie's
government. So what has Megawati's government done?

If we cast our minds back to the past, we can remember the
idea of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which will be an
integral part of a comprehensive solution of human rights
violations. The proposition was first aired during the days of
Abdurrahman Wahid's government, but it was discontinued. We need
the existence of the commission to heal the deep wounds of the
past that cover the entire country.

We still notice the differing opinions on the true nature of
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, whether it will be
oriented toward "distributive justice" or "restorative justice".
However, we should search for a meeting point of the differences.
What we do not see today are the efforts of Megawati's
government. The silence of her government on this commission
signals that it does not have a clear concept on settling cases
of human rights violations. At the same time it could be said
that Megawati's government has taken an attitude that appears to
take little note of history. Just look at South Africa, which
started its new government by comprehensively settling the cases
of human rights violations caused by the apartheid system. We
certainly do not have to photocopy South Africa's model, but we
should learn from that experience in order to reunite this nation
and to heal past wounds.

When Cory Aquino became the president of the Philippines,
replacing Ferdinand Marcos, her first order was to ratify
international rights instruments so that today the Philippines is
the nation among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) that has the most extensive legislation of national human
rights. It has ratified almost all basic instruments on human
rights of the United Nations, such as the Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, all of which are now part of the law of the land.

It is a pity that we do not see any positive signals from the
Megawati government in relation to our joining an international
community that respects human dignity and values.

One day during a human rights class at the University of
California, Berkeley law school, my lecturer, Frank Newmann,
asked "What is U.S.'s human rights policy?" He did not wait for
an answer. He said that U.S. human rights policy is no policy.

Professor Frank Newmann's question and answer could be
relevant to the situation in Indonesia today. The answer to "What
is Indonesia's human rights policy?" could probably be the same
"Indonesia's human rights policy is no policy".