Abdul Hakim elected Komnas HAM chief

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Noted lawyer Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara was elected chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) on Thursday, with an uphill challenge of restoring the country's poor records in rights protection.

Hakim, who replaced Djoko Sugianto, beat closest contenders Solahuddin Wahid, a deputy chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Achmad Ali, senior lecturer from Hasanuddin University and Djoko himself in a vote by the commission's 23 new members.

Solahuddin, a younger brother of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, and Zoemrotin K. Susilo, an executive of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), were elected the deputy chairpersons.

"In the very near future, we will make the campaign for public access to information our top priority. We will monitor how the government and legislators deliberate the controversial broadcasting bill. The bill should not rob people of their freedom of expression," said Hakim, also an executive of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM).

The commission will also keep an eye on the drafting of the government-sponsored anti-terrorism bill, considering that "it is prone to rights violations."

Under his leadership, the commission will push for the completion of a bill on truth and reconciliation which the country needs to settle past rights abuses.

Indonesia has been rocked by a series of violent conflicts in just about every corner of the country, characterized by thousands of extrajudicial murders, torture, rapes and a host of other serious human rights violations, but only a few cases have even been investigated.

When asked whether the new commission members planned to seriously follow up on the Trisakti and Semanggi murders, Hakim said that they had done all they could and now would "hope" for a breakthrough.

"Since the commission has submitted the results of its inquiry into the incidents to the Attorney General's Office, the only think we can do is to continue dialog with the Office to proceed with the cases. I hope this effort will be enough to bring the perpetrators to the court."

Earlier in the day, the family of the victims who were killed in the three bloody incidents demanded that the new members of Komnas HAM work with them, instead of letting the military maintain its impunity before laws.