Commitment to human rights and reform sought

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)