Abolition and human rights

Abolition and human rights

From Media Indonesia

Recently, there have been many arguments for and against the
President's plan to drop all corruption charges against former
president Soeharto.

Of course, people have their own opinions. A lawyer with all
his perseverance would try to prove that his client did not
commit the crime he stands accused of. So, a case is settled
after the judge makes a ruling.

I try to put myself in Soeharto's position. The possibility of
him being granted abolition must make him feel that his human
rights are being violated. Why is it so?

First, Pak Harto knows that all people are equal before the
law so he would demand similar treatment. Second, he knows the
principle of the presumption of innocence prevails and that it
should be a court that decides whether he is guilty or not.

As criminal charges have been laid against Pak Harto, he would
surely demand that he be tried. After all, he has the right to
prove that he is innocent and that would be disclosed if he was
tried openly. It would be hard for Pak Harto to shoulder the
charges to the end of his life if he has not been given a chance
to clarify the matter before the court.

The Indonesian Encyclopedia says abolition is not granted in
the case of criminal acts and their consequences. According to
Article 14 of the 1945 Constitution, it is the prerogative of the
president to grant abolition. Issues on abolition itself are
covered in Article 366 of the Criminal Code. I think the word
"abolition" is derived from the English word "to abolish" meaning
to erase or remove. So, if abolition is granted to Pak Harto, it
means that he has to accept the charges leveled against him. That
would surely be really hard for him to do.

If we uphold his human rights and do not want to give him more
burdens to shoulder for the rest of his life, he should be
prosecuted in an effort to make his cases clear and to relieve
his moral responsibility. This is just the point of view of a
layman intending to ease the burden of former president Soeharto,
who is also a citizen with no small contribution to the country.
Therefore, we should respect his human rights and there should be
no abolition granted to him.

SOEGIH ARTO

Jakarta