Govt lauded for Pakpahan's treatment

SEMARANG (JP): Human rights activists have praised President Soeharto's decision to allow Canada to send medical diagnostic equipment and personnel to Jakarta to treat jailed labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan.

Satjipto Rahardjo and Muladi, both members of the National Commission on Human Rights, agreed in an interview with The Jakarta Post over the weekend that the decision was a sign that Indonesia respects human rights.

Muladi said treating Pakpahan here was a better option than sending him for treatment abroad, which he described as "risky".

"That might expose him to foreign influence which is not always good," Muladi said.

He added that Soeharto's decision would help dispel negative rumors about the upholding of human rights here.

"Hospitals here are good enough," he added.

Satjipto said the decision would help convince foreign countries that Pakpahan had indeed been given medically adequate and equitable treatment because it involved both local and foreign experts.

Last week, the Canadian government announced it was sending diagnostic equipment along with the specialists to examine Pakpahan, chairman of the unrecognized Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), who is being treated for lung problems at the Cikini Hospital in Central Jakarta.

Pakpahan is on trial for subversion, but court sessions have been interrupted due to his ill health.

Soeharto told U.S. President Bill Clinton last week in Vancouver, Canada, that foreign physicians were free to examine Pakpahan but an Indonesian doctor would have to be present.

Satjipto dismissed the suggestion that Soeharto had given in to foreign pressure on Pakpahan's illness.

"I only view this from the humane side. He is a sick man and needs urgent help," said the senior lecturer at the state-owned Diponegoro University's School of Law.

A professor of law at Diponegoro University, Dimyati Hartono, shared Muladi and Satjipto's positive view of the decision.

He believed the government was displaying its goodwill, and that its sole intention was a cure for Pakpahan.

"However, the government should be vigilant on the possibility of efforts to take Pakpahan abroad. The government should be strict on this matter," Dimyati said. (har/09)