House criticized for ignoring rights campaigners
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives (DPR) has been facing mounting criticism for disqualifying some noted rights campaigners in its selection of new members for the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
Critics said the decisions had been based on whether the legislators liked or disliked the candidates rather than on a fair examination.
The criticism was not only aired by rights activists, but one of the 23 who qualified.
Director of the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH Apik) Nursyahbani Katjasungkana suspected that the disqualification of rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis by the legislators was a result of subjective reasons.
"Perhaps this is because of strong criticism voiced by Mulya Lubis against the legislators in the past," Nursyahbani said.
Todung, 53, is known for his strong commitment to upholding the promotion and protection of human rights since the 1970s.
Enny Soeprapto, one of the 23 qualifying candidates, expressed concern over the exclusion of some figures from the commission's membership.
"Normally, a figure like Todung Mulya Lubis is eligible for the commission. I don't know what criteria was adopted by the legislators," she said.
Enny, however, hailed the results of the test, saying that the composition of the new members of the commission had shown pluralism.
Both Enny and Nursyahbani were commenting on the disqualification of some figures, including Todung Mulya Lubis, Hendardi, and Wardah Hafidz, during the selection for the Komnas HAM membership conducted by the House's Commission II for legal affairs on Monday.
Responding to the results of the selection, Todung simply said that the fit and proper test at the House was political, therefore it would be difficult to fill the expectations of various people.
"We expect an fair and objective process, but it was political bargaining that determined the final decision," Todung told The Jakarta Post by phone from Paris.
Despite the criticism, two members of the House's Commission II defended the selection process, saying that the legislators had conducted the recruitment process in accordance with the rules.
Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa of Golkar and Tumbu Saraswati of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) denied allegations that a vote was cast during the selection to determine the members.
"It was not voting. We shared our preferences with fellow legislators," Agun told the Post.
Tumbu agreed, saying that in the selection process legislators were given the freedom to choose their preferences from among the 35 nominees. A legislator could choose more than one.
Agun said that long before the candidates appeared at the commission for a hearing, the legislators had assessed their track records, educational background and papers, which outlined the opinions of the candidates.
After assessing the candidates during a six-day consecutive hearing, the legislators were given the opportunity to make their personal choices.
Agun acknowledged that he had 17 candidates on his list. "Only one of my preferred nominees was disqualified," he said.
The selection of candidate members by the House of Representatives is stipulated in Law No. 39/1999 on human rights. The House is supposed to pick 35 candidates to fill the membership seats of the commission.
With only 23 candidates declared eligible, the legislators had to select another 12.
The current Komnas HAM members were appointed by the President.