Human Rights Commission

Human Rights Commission

I am compelled to comment on the opinion of Yassin Tasrief in
your report Poor record shuts RI out of UN rights commission
(Monday, May 20, 1996). He blames the government of Indonesia, in
particular the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for "nominating
relatively unknown figures" for membership to the United Nations
Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the
Protection of Minorities. He views that the government "should
have selected people with an international reputation whose
commitment towards human rights cannot be questioned."

I could not agree more with Tasrief that Prof. Mochtar Kusuma-
Atmadja and Dr. Emil Salim are prominent figures with
international reputations. What he probably is not aware of is
that the election process in an international body like UN
Commission involves many factors that could influence the final
outcome.

He questions the integrity of the Indonesian candidates,
Prof. Dr. Charles Himawan and Prof. Dr. H. Muladi. Does he really
know them well? I doubt it. He otherwise would not have
questioned their credentials. I believe both have strong
credentials for the position and their commitment to human rights
is beyond doubt. As members of the National Human Rights
Commission, they are highly respected both nationally and
internationally. Many governments have promised to support the
Indonesian candidates because of their credentials. As I
mentioned earlier, however, other considerations could prevail in
the last stage of the election process.

A poor atmosphere might have discouraged support for the
Indonesian candidates during the election. It seems the
atmosphere was deliberately soured. The day before the election,
many European television stations aired an incident occurring in
Jakarta. This is a clear sign that certain parties do not want
Indonesia to be represented in the subcommission. I do not agree
that Indonesia's human rights record obstructs it from
participating in the UN Human Rights Commission. Indonesia has
been outstanding in its effort to be re-elected for the third
consecutive time as a member of the Commission for 1997 to 1999
at the election held during the Economic and Social Council in
New York early this May.

Unlike other regional groups in this election, the Asian Group
had five candidates (Japan, Republic of Korea, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Indonesia) for only two seats. No single country
wanted to give up its candidacy, consequently, the competition
was tight.

I believe the Indonesian government did its utmost to nominate
the best candidates and gain as much support as possible. It is
unwise, therefore, to put the blame on anybody.

WESAKA PUJA

Jakarta