Human rights, election amandment agreed

Human rights, election amandment agreed

JAKARTA (JP): Major factions at the People's Consultative
Assembly's (MPR) Ad Hoc Committee (PAH) have agreed to insert a
chapter on human rights and a free and fair general election into
the Amendments to the 1945 Constitution.

Ad Hoc committee chairman Jacob Tobing said representatives of
almost all 10 factions in the committee were of the opinion that
human rights and a free and fair general election are two
elementary factors in developing democracy.

"All factions agreed to insert human rights and a free and
fair general election into a special chapter in the
Constitution," he told The Jakarta Post after the committee's
session here on Wednesday.

He noted that the chapter on human rights acknowledged
universal principles but also their uniqueness in the situation
in Indonesia, freedom of association, freedom of speech and the
protection of women and children rights.

Tobing, also a former member of the General Elections
Commission (KPU), said factions also agreed that a free and fair
general election should be held regularly and organized by an
independent election commission.

"A general election will be held once every five years and it
should be organized by an independent commission to make it free
and fair," he said.

He said the committee's agreement was in line with the House
of Representatives' recent decision to dissolve KPU, whose
members were representatives of the government and political
parties, and replace it with an independent eleven-member
commission.

He said the committee had also agreed to a direct presidential
election system in the general election.

"The committee is making necessary changes to the Constitution
resulting from the proposed presidential election," he said, but
noted that a direct presidential election could not be held in
the 2004 general election because it would need a lot of
preparation.

Women

The insertion of a human rights chapter, in particular one
which applies gender equality is also being lobbied by female
activists.

They argued that it was necessary to enable the replacement of
many discriminative laws.

Rights activist Nursyahbani Katjasungkana said that a clause
on equality must be added to the Constitution because in 1984 the
government had ratified the United Nations Convention for the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

The clause on equality should be inserted into the additional
chapter on human rights, said Nursyahbani, who also represents
women in the MPR.

Although the Constitution already mentions, among others,
rights to a decent living, religious rights and rights to
education, Nursyahbani said these were inadequate.

"The right to live and the right not to be discriminated
against are not covered in the Constitution," Nursyahbani said.

According to Nursyahbani the ad-hoc committee preparing the
changes since October had not responded to input from the Women's
Coalition. Discriminative laws included the marriage law and the
labor law, she said.

Noted sociologist Julia Suryakusuma said separately that the
clauses on human rights in the Constitution were open to
interpretation.

"We are a patriarchal community, and our laws are interpreted
in a patriarchal light," she told the Post.

Julia pointed to the marriage law, which states that the man
is the head of the family. The law has led to the waiving of
domestic violence reports, Julia said, on the grounds that such
cases were private affairs.

"The law implies that the woman is the man's property," she
said.

She agreed with Nursyahbani on the need of a specific section
on human rights and the rights of women and children in the
Constitution to avoid open interpretation.

Apart from amending the Constitution and laws, authorities
should also be taught about gender sensitivity, Julia said.

"No matter how specific the Constitution, if the person
interpreting it is patriarchal, then it will be patriarchal," she
said.

The Women's Coalition proposed a special section dealing with
civil and political rights; social, economic and cultural rights;
reproductive rights; the right to fair and sustainable
development; and the rights of indigenous societies.

Nursyahbani said ratifying the convention also obligates the
government to set up affirmative action for women until
considerable equality is reached.

Nursyahbani stressed that discrimination extended to sexual
orientation.

Reality shows that homosexuals and lesbians exist in society
and in a country upholding the rule of law, discrimination based
on sexual orientation is unacceptable, she added. (10/rms)