Buddhist leaders deny human rights violations

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)