Govt curtails human rights, activists says

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The human rights condition in the country has been deteriorating since the government announced wars on separatism and terrorism last year, rights watchdogs said.

The Human Rights Watch Group (HRW) said the government's policies on the two issues had sparked new humanitarian and human rights crises in the country, worsening its human rights record.

The group, which consists of 28 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is expected to present its 2003 evaluation of Indonesia's human rights condition during the 60th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva next month.

The HRW highlighted policies that were imposed last year on Aceh and Papua provinces, both of which are still struggling to settle separatist conflicts.

The government imposed martial law on Aceh on May 19, 2003 after talks to maintain a cease-fire between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), brokered by the Henry Dunant Centre, faltered.

Despite protests from rights groups and regret expressed by international donors, President Megawati Soekarnoputri decided to extend the martial law another six months.

Martial law allows the military to restrict civilian rights, including freedom of expression, and the imposition of the law has been fraught with rights abuses.

"Both warring sides are responsible for the atrocity. Indeed, the extension of the law means an extended gross violation of human rights," the HRW said in a report released on Tuesday.

The group recorded 166 cases of physical abuse and torture, 200 arbitrary arrests and detention, 43 abductions, 54 involuntary disappearances and 145 extrajudicial killings, as well as 22 attacks against journalists between May and October.

"While being aware of the fact that GAM, too, has committed serious human rights violations, it is the government of Indonesia that holds the key to any political solution to the conflict," the group said.

Fahrul Syahmega, a rights activist, deplored the government, GAM and civil society for lacking the will to promote peace in the province.

"Indonesia has many laws that support peacebuilding in Aceh instead of martial law," he said.

In Papua, the government's issuance of a 2003 Presidential Decree to implement Law No. 49/1999 on the division of Papua into three provinces and the revision of the decree on the Papuan People's Council (MRP) has contributed to a series of bloody incidents there late last year, the group said.

"Neither the law nor the decree reflect the needs of locals, while the bill has blocked Papua's involvement in politics through the MRP," it said.

The revised decree on the MRP establishes the council as a body dealing with tribal and cultural affairs, and not a Papuan representative council to the government.

Separately, Ifdhal Kasim of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), a member of the HRW, said the government's campaign on war against terror had opened more loopholes for rights violations.

Since the terrorist attack on Bali two years ago, the government has enacted a legislation most rights watchdogs have slammed for justifying rights abuses.

Antiterrorism Law No. 15/2003 is "a legislation of an authoritarian character" that ignores basic rights, Ifdhal said.

He feared that the law would only empower intelligence agencies, the military and police to further curtail people's freedoms.

The law enables the detention of terror suspects for seven days upon the basis of intelligence reports, without the knowledge of their families or lawyers.

The government has completed the amended law, which increases the detention period to 30 days.

Under the Criminal Code, preliminary evidence is required to arrest an individual.