Govt policies 'have human rights base'

JAKARTA (JP): The current administration has developed all of its policies based on the promotion and protection of human rights, President B.J. Habibie claimed on Tuesday.

Opening a four-day regional workshop on human rights, the President said his administration had taken measures over the past three months which would have been impossible under the previous Soeharto regime.

"Human rights has become one of the main pillars for the policies of the Reform Development Cabinet.

"Steps toward that direction have begun since the Cabinet was inaugurated last May 22," Habibie said at the Bina Graha presidential office.

The Third Workshop of the Asia-Pacific Regional Forum of National Human Rights Institutions is being held at the Radisson Jakarta hotel on Jl. Pecenongan, Central Jakarta.

As proof of his administration's commitment, Habibie cited the release of political prisoners, allowances of greater freedom of expression and government probes into alleged human rights violations by the state.

"We have also given the people the freedom to form political parties, as long as their objectives and principles are in line with the state's," he said.

Habibie admitted, however, that he had yet to satisfy all public demands regarding human rights.

"Since it has been such a short period of time, there are certainly still so many things we have to do. In the meantime, our country is facing an economic crisis which is not easy to handle," he said, pleading for understanding.

The administration's struggle to deal with the crisis should also be seen as a commitment to human rights, he said, arguing that "economic degradation" could be a contributing factor to rights violations if not properly addressed.

Habibie assumed the presidency on May 21 when Soeharto resigned amid devastating economic and political turmoil which prompted rioting in Jakarta leaving 1,200 people dead.

Habibie, who once called Soeharto his "professor in politics", has been the object of public criticism since the very day he was sworn in. Many have branded him as Soeharto's puppet, while others have accused him of lacking the vision needed to lead the nation out of crisis.

His administration has also garnered public condemnations because its officials have made contradictory statements.

One of such complaints was made by the New York-based Human Rights Watch on Tuesday concerning the issue of reported mass rapes of Chinese-Indonesian women during the May riots.

In a report, the group called on the Habibie government "to immediately cease efforts to discredit reports of the rapes".

It said the government should instead "work to create a climate where victims of sexual violence might be more willing to come forward."

The organization's Asia director, Sidney Jones, was quoted in the report as saying: "If it was difficult to persuade victims, their families or their doctors to come forward before, it's going to be almost impossible now."

Responding to public pressure, Habibie has set up a joint fact-finding team led by respected rights campaigner Marzuki Darusman to look into the rape reports.

Before the team completed its investigation, however, several government officials -- including Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto and Minister of Information Muhammad Junus -- claimed the reports were unfounded.

Armed Forces representatives had been included in the government-sanctioned team.

Human Rights Watch argued that official denials of the rapes had hindered the investigation.

The report, Indonesia: The Damaging Debate on Rapes of Ethnic Chinese Women, said debates on whether or not the rapes had occurred "was obscuring other issues".

These included "the extent to which the May rioting was organized, the fact that sexual violence other than rape occurred and the need to make Indonesia a society where people of all ethnicities feel secure."

It called on the Indonesian government to invite the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women to explore the issue.

In one of the conference sessions here, Mar'ie Muhammad of the Indonesian Transparency Society said in a prepared speech that the promotion and protection of human rights must start by rekindling "the fundamental inner sense of morality and ethics, both as individuals and as a nation, which recognizes, accepts and respects the basic dignity of mankind".

"It is only through the inculcation of personal moral and ethical codes that we can build a solid foundation for the observance of the rights of others and the community, and equally recognize, accept and exercise corresponding responsibilities," he said. (prb/anr/aan)