Govt not serious about rights issues: Activists

Govt not serious about rights issues: Activists

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government's serious lack of commitment to upholding basic
rights in the political, social, economic and cultural spheres
has created a vacuum where rights violations could flourish,
activists said on Monday.

Center for Human Rights Studies (Yapusham) executive director
Todung Mulya Lubis urged the administration of President Megawati
Soekarnoputri to immediately issue the regulations necessary to
ensure that the people's basic rights were respected.

Speaking during a seminar organized by the National Taskforce
for Human Rights (KKN HAM), Todung also underlined the importance
of comprehensively enshrining human rights in the Constitution so
as to serve as an umbrella for the international covenants on
human rights that Indonesia had already ratified.

"The second phase of the amendment of the 1945 Constitution
has failed to embrace all human rights principles as it still
adheres to non-retroactivity so as to hamper the prosecution of
past rights violations. This is the result of a compromise with
the old guard," Todung said.

"There should be more comprehensive clauses in the
Cconstitution on human rights, with a mechanism being provided
for the resolution of rights cases ... not only an internal
mechanism but a regional one as well since human rights issues
resonate beyond a country's borders," he said.

Most cases of rights violations which have been highlighted by
the international community are believed to have been committed
by the military.

The people at large had been clamoring for strict procedures
for the Indonesian armed forces in handling riots and
demonstrations so as to prevent major human rights violations.

Suporing Todung's view was National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) member Saafroedin Bahar, who said that both the
government and the legislators would remain inconsistent with
their policies for protecting and promoting human rights.

"Although we have put in place a national action plan on human
rights for the period 1998-2003, Indonesia will not ratify the
main conventions on civil and political rights, and economic,
social, and cultural rights in the near future since they have
yet to be included in the legislative program for 2002," he said.