Govt slammed for poor rights record
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia's failure to uphold human rights this year was due to simultaneous policies of the executive, legislative and judicial institutions, the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) disclosed on Tuesday.
Usman Hamid, chairman of the Kontras working body, also said that the political phenomenon taking place during 2002 was evidence that "the power-minded among the governing authorities have failed to deal with humanitarian and justice issues."
Usman referred to various political cases believed to have affected the sense of justice among people, such as the high profile case known as Buloggate II, that implicated Akbar Tandjung, chairman of the Golkar Party and also speaker of the House of Representatives as well as the legislators' cool reaction in dealing with the case.
"The lack of sensitivity among authorities over reform demands has only showed us that power is more important than anything for the political elite at the expense of justice and humanity," Usman said during the press conference that was held in an attempt to commemorate International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.
Usman also said that civil rights with regard to economic, social and cultural aspects have been affected during the year due to prolonged state violence in several conflict areas in the country, such as the Aceh, Papua, Maluku, Sulawesi and Kalimantan provinces.
"The most compelling aspect of people's lives in the strife torn regions is their standard of living as thousands of people have been displaced. In Aceh alone, there are some 29,156 people who have been displaced due to violence, while 119,202 people in Maluku had to leave their homes following the sectarian conflict that has been taking place there," Usman said.
The troubled Aceh province is on the top of the list of violations where 776 cases have occurred resulting in the killing of 1,771 civilians.
Usman further said that Megawati's administration had failed to provide justice for the victims of violence.
"The ongoing ad hoc tribunal trying human rights violations in East Timor has again showed this."
"All the Acehnese ask from the government is justice. We have long been living in violent circumstances and we want peace more than anything...more than our independence," Ruslan Razali, a student activist, said.
On Tuesday, dozens of Acehnese students residing in Jakarta held a peace rally at the National Monument compound.
"We support the peace agreement that has been signed between the Indonesian government and the representatives of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) yesterday (Monday) in Geneva. But I'm not sure that peace will soon be realized in the province if the government fails to withdraw thousands of military troops that are deployed there," Ruslan said.