Buddhist leaders deny human rights violations
JAKARTA (JP): Leaders of the government-backed Buddhist Council (Walubi) executive board yesterday denied allegations that they were involved in any human rights violations against their opposition on the board.
The Buddhist leaders yesterday visited the secretariat of the National Commission on Human Rights to give their side of the story after their opponents last week gave theirs, which include allegations of torture and intimidation.
"We are not here to complain or tell on anyone," said Walubi chairman Bhikku (priest) Girirakkhito Maha Thera. "It is our conscience which compels to give clarification."
Girirakkhito stressed that they were not aware of any human rights violations as claimed by their opponents.
He added that he felt the need to speak up to counter the allegations by people "who claim to speak on behalf of Walubi, but whose visit I was not informed of at all".
He was accompanied by Secretary General Budi Setiawan, who is also director of Buddhist Affairs at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and Oka Diputhera, the secretary general of the newly- established Family of Indonesian Buddhist Intellectuals (KCBI).
They were met with commission members Nurcholish Madjid, Djoko Setianto and expert staff P.L. Tobing.
Girirakkhito and his board have been locked in an intense power struggle for the right to lead Walubi after its last congress in December 1992 ended inconclusively.
Last week, a group of Buddhist monks and laypersons, led by Parwati Soepangat visited the National Commission on Human Rights to complain about alleged brutalities by their opponents which they suspected was linked to the Council's unsuccessful national congress in December, 1992.
They said that three members of Walubi, namely Tjoetjoe Ali Hartono, Kittinanda and Pramana Winardi, were beaten, given electric shocks and intensively interrogated by members of the security agency who also forced them to "apologize" for publishing a "fake" statute after the closing of the congress.
"If what they want is legal protection from brutal interrogations or other such measures, then it is nothing that we know of," Girirakkhito said about the accusations.
Asked how he felt about the allegations, he denied of ever hearing such actions and doubted their validity.
Split opinions
However, he said, since the complaints seemed to have to do with Walubi's dispute, he felt he owed the Commission an explanation.
The congress had split opinions over certain articles in the draft of Walubi's statute and ended in a deadlock.
Girirakkhito and several other members of Walubi's executive board, who came together in one band, gained the government's approval. Their opponents also consist of lay and ordained Buddhists, including Tjoetjoe Ali Hartono, Kittinanda and Pramana Winardi.
Giving a chronology of the incidents which took place at that time according to his version, Girirakkhito considered the dispute was "definitely symptoms of a sickness".
"We know this is a sign of an evolving disease, but I can only guess its sources. However, because it is a mental or spiritual disease, and not a physical one, we have to be careful to find out what it is exactly that they want," he said, insisting that the congress had in fact ended in a unanimous decision.(pwn)