Govenment has failed to promote human rights protection: Watchdog
Govenment has failed to promote human rights protection: Watchdog
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government's failure to reform the Indonesian Military (TNI),
the National Police, and the Supreme Court as well as the
Attorney General's Office had worsened human rights protection in
2003, a human rights watchdog says.
In its 2003 evaluation of human rights implementation, the
Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy or Elsam said that
"government policies in politics and economics have put Indonesia
in a politically difficult situation vis-a-vis human rights".
"The government and the House of Representatives have only
made legislation to support rights enforcement, but have not
attempted to boost its implementation," said Ifdhal Kasim,
Elsam's director, during a press conference on Tuesday.
According to Elsam, this was a result of the government's
failure to reform state institutions such as the TNI, the police,
the judiciary and the Attorney General's Office.
The TNI and the police have failed to reform themselves
following their separation in 2000, Elsam said, referring to the
many clashes between personnel of the two institutions in 2003.
"Reform is only in the sphere of administrative affairs. The
police have failed to end its militaristic culture, while the TNI
insists on maintaining its involvement in the country's internal
security," Ifdhal said.
He referred to the deployment of the military in the early
stages of several conflicts across the country, such as in Aceh
and Poso, last year.
Ifdhal specifically criticized the poor performance of the
Attorney General's Office following its failure to put defendants
in the East Timor rights trial in jail.
"The President must separate the Attorney General's Office
from the executive branch. How can the Attorney General's Office
work independently if it is included in the President's Cabinet?
It means the Attorney General's Office must support government
policy and will not be able to be independent," he said.
Ifdhal also said that the Attorney General's Office must stop
"employing a militaristic approach in its office culture",
referring to the practice of using a uniform with a tag to show
an official's rank.
"The New Order always installed a military officer as the
attorney general, therefore, the civilian institution has become
very militaristic," he said.
Ifdhal said that this background made it "difficult
psychologically" for prosecutors to prosecute high-ranking
military officers in the East Timor rights trial.
Several military and police officers were brought to court for
their role in human rights violations in East Timor in 1999 but
most of them were acquitted. Even those sentenced to prison
remain free pending an appeal.
Elsam also criticized the poor performance of the Supreme
Court, saying that the institution has failed to improve its
human resources.
The government, too, Elsam said, has failed to give sufficient
political support to the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) as a legitimate state body.
"Other state institutions consider Komnas HAM as a non-
constitutional body. Therefore, they ignore its presence and
instead, publicly denounce the commission despite the fact that
it is authorized to investigate human rights violations," he
said.