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.