Australia, NZ differ on rights
Australia, NZ differ on rights
JAKARTA (JP): Australian and New Zealand foreign ministers
issued totally different viewpoints on human rights conditions in
Indonesia during separate bilateral talks with their Indonesian
counterpart Ali Alatas yesterday.
Australia's Foreign Minister Gareth Evans insisted that
Indonesia's human rights record was still "poor" with New
Zealand's Don McKinnon saying that the condition was improving.
Evans told journalists after meeting with Alatas at the
Jakarta Convention Center, the venue of the APEC (Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation) meetings, that he had expressed concern and
disappointment over "poor" respect for human rights in Indonesia.
He referred to the closure of three weeklies in June, the
"cleaning up operation" for the APEC meetings, the imprisonment
of labor activist Mochtar Pakpahan and the presence of the
military in East Timor.
Pakpahan was sentenced to three years in jail early this month
for organizing a labor demonstration that turned into anti-ethnic
Chinese violence, resulting in the death of a businessman.
"Three years is a very, very heavy sentence...," he said.
Unlike Evans, McKinnon praised the progress of the human
rights condition in East Timor.
"A number of New Zealand members of parliament who recently
visited East Timor came back to me and reported they were
satisfied with the issue regarding human rights," McKinnon told
reporters.
He said the parliamentarians were satisfied with what the
Indonesian government had done to develop East Timor, which was
integrated into Indonesia in 1976.
To further improve the human rights condition in the country,
Indonesia should ratify more United Nations conventions on human
rights, he said.
Marzuki Darusman, vice chairman of the National Commission for
Human Rights, expressed concern over the surfacing of human
rights issues at the APEC meeting.
He argued that the issues should be discussed in a different,
more appropriate forum.
He said it would be inappropriate to discuss human rights
issue in the APEC forum as any discussion could not be thorough.
"What needs to be done is to define where this issue can be
accommodated," said Marzuki, a former member of the House of
Representatives.
The United States Secretary Warren Christopher will meet the
Commission officials on Wednesday to exchange views on human
rights, according to Marzuki.
He said human rights was of international concern and should
be seen within the context of international cooperation.
"But the primary responsibility of implementing human rights
lies with each country," he said.
Marzuki said he understood that other countries raised human
rights issues in the bilateral talks with Indonesia, saying:
"We've got sensible people up there and if this is represented in
a sensible way they will get sensible responses."
Marzuki said he observed that there had been improvement in
the human rights condition in the country, which was reflected by
greater openness in discussing the issue.
The National Commission on Human Rights, which was established
by President Soeharto last year, addressed the matter in an open
and public way with the hope that this would set Indonesia's
human rights record straight.
Though the commission was established by the president, it was
totally independent, Marzuki said.(sim)