Govt, NGOs urged to cooperate

Govt, NGOs urged to cooperate

JAKARTA (JP): The government must cooperate with Non-
Governmental Organizations to succeed in educating the public
about human rights, say two leading intellectuals.

NGOs are deeply committed institutions and excel in knowledge
and networking, said two speakers in separate sessions at the
Second National Workshop on Human Rights yesterday.

"Most NGOs exist for a cause and have a deep commitment for
humanitarian values they believe in and this is self evident in
their high motivation to pursue those values," Nurcholish Madjid
said.

In another session, Dr. Astrid Susanto of University of
Indonesia said that NGOs are better prepared than the media to
promote human rights.

"The press has the hardware but not the software. NGOs have
the software, mastery of issues, international contacts,
capability to act quickly, perseverance and are more dedicated,"
Astrid Susanto said.

They have "actionable knowledge", she said, "a knowledge that
can quickly be translated into action and work."

Madjid was speaking during the session on the promotion of
human rights through formal education and Astrid on the role of
the mass media in disseminating human rights. The three-day
workshop ending today is being sponsored by the Minister of
Foreign Affairs and the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM).

Astrid called the work of the media shallow and failing to
touch the substance of a given issue.

Jakob Oetama of Kompas daily acknowledged that the mass media
lacks knowledge on human rights.

"Of the various training provided for reporters, not a single
one centers on human rights," he said urging that such training
be held in a collaboration with competent agencies.

Outlook

Madjid said human rights consciousness is more a matter of
life outlook and personal commitment than cognitive knowledge.

"Human rights will not be ingrained in a person unless it
becomes his or her life's outlook. And as a life outlook, an
awareness of human rights demands an individual's capability to
turn the outlook into a person's sense of meaning and purpose in
life," he said.

In fact, Madjid said, the human rights question is related to
"the problem of ultimacy," meaning the answer to basic questions
such as: Who are men, what is the purpose of life and what is the
relationship between man and his environment?

Answers to these questions are usually found in ideologies,
like Pancasila, or religions, and therefore it is important to
first understand "our own culture", he said.

Madjid said skepticism about Pancasila has grown lately
despite efforts to disseminate it widely simply because the gap
between what is being preached and reality is so wide.

"Cynics will say why do we as owners of the Pancasila ideology
treat our workers worse than those who do not own Pancasila?" he
said.

In predominantly Moslem Indonesia, human rights values are
often rejected because they are often perceived as western values
and hence compliance to the values is tantamount to submission to
foreign pressure.

"You will think that this line of thinking is rife only among
the laymen. It is not. It is also rife among intellectuals," he
said.

To overcome it Madjid suggested resorting to the "art of
smuggling the ideas" by either devising cultures as a 'bridge' or
by looking at culture as having intrinsic values which are
compatible with human rights.

"These intrinsic values which have parallels to human rights
values need to be retrieved and blown up," he said.

Madjid also stressed the need to introduce the history of how
man arrives at formulating human rights.

"It takes such a long process and time to arrive at that. Now
we tend to take it for granted," said Madjid pointing out the
span of time from the Magna Carta in 1215 to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

LBH

Meanwhile, Komnas HAM said yesterday that technical problems
were behind the absence of a leading Non-Governmental
Organization at the workshop.

"After a check with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a late
delivery of the invitation to the seminar seemed to be the
primary cause of the absence of the LBH (Legal Aid Institute),"
said Marzuki Darusman, vice chairman of Komnas HAM.

He said he made the check immediately after learning that the
leading NGO was absent the first day and conveyed the matter to
the NGO yesterday.

"After learning of the matter we hope that representatives of
the NGO will be present at this workshop, even on the last day,"
he said.

He said the organizing committee had invited LBH leaders
including Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, Mulyana Kusumah and Frans
Hendra Winata. None of the three was seen up to the second day of
the workshop yesterday.

Marzuki said that Komnas believes in communicating with
anyone, including those who are critical about human rights
violations in Indonesia.

"We believe that the workshop should be open as wide as
possible to all and for that reason we have invited a number of
NGOs," he said.

Other speakers at yesterday's workshop included Dr. Saparinah
Sadli of University of Indonesia, Dr. Muladi of the University of
Diponegoro, Dr. Napitupulu of the Education and Culture Ministry,
Dr. John Pace of the United Nations Center for Human Rights, Dr.
Soeyono Yahya of the People's Welfare Ministry and Dr. Achie
Luhulima of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. (hbk)