Commitment to human rights and reform sought

JAKARTA (JP): Human rights protection and commitment to democratization are key factors in rehabilitating the country's poor image, participants at a seminar said on Wednesday.

The speakers included human rights advocate Marzuki Darusman and non-governmental organization activist Bambang Ismawan.

"A country's image will be positive if it pays serious attention and handles human rights violation cases well," Marzuki, the deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights, told the seminar on promoting Indonesia's image.

International pressure would also be reduced with better commitment to human rights, he said.

The seminar was co-organized by the Directorate General of Social and Cultural Relations and Information Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Institute for Economic and People Research of the University of Indonesia (LPEM-UI).

Marzuki said the government's commitment to reform could be measured by its seriousness to let the rights commission perform its duties independently and comprehensively.

Marzuki is now leading the government-appointed 19-member Joint Fact-finding Team on the May riots.

"The government must lay its trust in the rights commission's capability to settle profound cases of human rights violations," he said. Recent commission cases include the discovery of mass graves and rapes in Aceh, which reportedly occurred during the nine years of military operations in the province after 1989.

Marzuki said the government must be able to eradicate the existing mind-set prevalent among government officials, who he said were still allergic to a diversity of opinions.

He cited comments from officials that diversity of views could lead to anarchy.

Bambang, of the Jakarta-based Bina Swadaya organization, said the government should not put the blame on human rights activists for the dissemination of human rights violations here.

"The government should introspect and improve its record on human rights protection rather than blame rights activists," he said in a separate session of the one-day seminar, held at the secretariat of the Center for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Movement in the former Kemayoran Airport grounds, Central Jakarta.

Bambang quoted a former statement of former abducted activist Pius Lustrilanang, who said that the parties which should be blamed for ruining the country's image were those who kidnapped and tortured him. Several activists abducted before and after Pius went missing from February are still missing.

Pius, who founded Siaga, an alliance to support opposition leaders Amien Rais and Megawati Soekarnoputri, left for the Netherlands and the United States as part of a tour to a number of countries immediately after his release in April.

The activist, who is now on the central board of the National Mandate Party chaired by Amien, explained his experiences during his detention by personnel of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus). His abduction was allegedly in connection with the country's preparation for the General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) last March. The session reelected Soeharto for a seventh consecutive term as president.

August Parengkuan of the Kompas daily suggested the establishment of a special agency to act as a public relations body for the country's internal affairs.

"The PR agency should not only counterattack those who attack Indonesia's policies. It must provide statements with correct data and information to support its arguments," he said. (imn)