Eight Komnas HAM members egree to undergo screening

Eight Komnas HAM members egree to undergo screening

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Eight members of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
HAM) agreed on Tuesday to undergo a fit-and-proper test by the
House of Representatives (DPR) to endorse their membership.

Komnas HAM secretary-general Asmara Nababan told a media
conference that eight Komnas HAM members confirmed their
readiness to undergo the test during a closed plenary meeting on
Tuesday, while five opted to drop their memberships for various
reasons. The remaining four, who were absent from the meeting,
have yet to make public their stance.

Asmara said the decision was taken to avoid further disputes
with the House over their membership, which could stir public
opinion that the current members had vested interests.

"There have been several hearings with the House over the
membership issue. We don't want to prolong the problem since the
screening of 34 candidates is expected to be completed before the
House's plenary meeting on July 1," Asmara said.

Komnas HAM members agreeing to undergo the test and would
therefore submit their names to the House before the June 7
deadline are H.S. Dillon, Samsudin, Saafroedin Bahar,
Soelistyowati Soegondo, Bambang W. Soeharto, B.N. Marbun and
Aisyah Amini and Djoko Soegianto.

Asmara, along with vice chairwoman Saparinah Sadli, Mohammad
Salim, Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto and Soegiri, chose to drop their
memberships in the commission, which was set up in 1999.

Members Albert Hasibuan, Koesparmono Irsan, Satjipto Rahardjo
and Emil Salim have not yet announced their position.

Soetandyo said that in his 70 years of age, travel from
Surabaya to Jakarta had become a major problem, while Asmara said
that the large amount of members was not effective since the
ideal number was between seven and 25.

Chairman Djoko Soegianto said that he had a moral obligation
to help new members to ensure that the commission runs well and
that cases the commission had started investigating would be
resolved.

The 1999 Law on human rights stipulates that the commission's
35 members should pass the House's selection process and for
current members, that would have come due in Sept. 2001.

The members, who were picked by the government, earlier
refused to undergo a House screening, insisting that their tenure
would end in 2003.

Meanwhile, Komnas HAM members appealed to President Megawati
Soekarnoputri on Tuesday to pay heed to the murder of Papuan
figure Theys Hiyo Eluay and monitor the latest results of the
investigation carried out by the Indonesian Military (TNI)
Police.