A reminder worth noting
When, in January 1994, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) came into being, observers were quick to question its independence while many activists chose to keep their distance from the newly established organization. This was understandable given the fact that the commission was established by presidential decree and was led initially by Ali Said, a retired, and since deceased, army general who was actively involved in the trials by military tribunal of some of the most prominent suspected actors in the September 1965 communist coup and who was, perhaps for that reason, widely regarded to be close to the ruling power elite, if not part of it.
But if doubts ever existed about the integrity and independence of our National Commission on Human Rights, they were quick to fade as, during various events that occurred in the following months and years, the Commission proved itself to be quite quick and vocal in denouncing what it saw as violations of the basic rights of the common citizen in this country, though obviously tact had to be exercised in conveying its messages to the authorities and to the public.
Still, of all the Commission's appeals for a better observation of the rights of the common people in Indonesia, there is none that we can remember that equals in directness and expansiveness the statement it issued earlier this week. The Commission censured the government for its failure to resolve the nation's most fundamental political problems -- including an emasculate democracy that has failed to empower the people and install checks on the government, crippled law enforcement due to an irresponsive judiciary that favors those in power, and intolerable social injustices.
"The economic and monetary crisis which is at present gripping the nation has affected the whole perception of the national development concept we have adhered to so far. The essential national conditions that are needed to ensure a decent life, a basic human right, continue to deteriorate," according to the Commission. "At present, conditions have driven the people's livelihoods to a high degree of uncertainty, and have now reached a most alarming point. What gives reason for concern," the statement said, "is that up to the present it remains unclear how the government determines the basic policies that are aimed at overcoming these dislocations." It noted that "disorder in the areas of democracy, law enforcement and social justice are caused by the defective operation of the legislatures, the law enforcing agencies and the institutions for social control as well as the rifeness of corruption and collusion in many fields".
One might perhaps ask why the National Commission on Human Rights has deemed it prudent to concern itself with such problems as economy and politics. The answer, of course, is that they have a direct and profound impact on the well-being of the ordinary citizen, which, as the Commission notes, is a most basic human right. Our bitter experience of the past few months should be a reminder that it is well worth the effort to win and maintain the trust, confidence, and respect of the public, and that trust and confidence, and of course respect, are things that have to be earned.