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)