Human rights enforcement remains a far off hope

Human rights enforcement remains a far off hope

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The year 2004 was capped by the appointment of Indonesia's senior
diplomat, Makarim Wibisono, as head of the United Nation's Human
Rights Commission for the next year.

Starting Jan. 17, 2005, Indonesia will officially see its
representative at the helm of this prestigious commission.

Hopes that this achievement may bring with it an improvement
in human rights protection back home are rather premature, with
rights activists considering the appointment an insult due to
Indonesia's poor human rights record.

This year did not witness any improvement in human rights
protection in this country.

It's not hard to find examples of this: the acquittal of most
defendants implicated in East Timor atrocities, and the
government's decision to prolong the emergency status in Aceh,
which is rife with rights abuses.

The country's poor record in human rights protection this year
was topped off, sadly, with the death -- presumed murder -- of
prominent rights campaigner Munir in September aboard a Garuda
flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam. Arsenic poisoning was the cause
of death, according to an autopsy performed by the Netherlands
Forensic Institute.

As many activists anticipated, the investigation into the case
is running sluggishly. The National Police have questioned a
number of Garuda employees and passengers on the flight, but so
far has not named anyone as a suspect. Another team of police
officers spent over two weeks in the Netherlands to consult with
local investigators, but so far this has not born any fruit.

A rights campaigner has observed that the government, as well
as the House of Representatives, have deliberately chosen not to
enforce the law when it comes to investigating cases of human
rights violations.

Instead, the national leadership, including former president
Megawati Soekarnoputri and her successor Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, have preferred taking a "softer" approach, such as
reconciliation, to iron out human rights wrinkles.

"Taking firm action to resolve human rights violations may
backfire on them due to the alleged involvement of government
officials and legislators loyal to them," the campaigner said.

Human rights violations in the country are commonly linked to
the military, police, government officials and politicians, he
said.

His accusation may not be 100 percent accurate, but it's
probably not that far from the truth either.

A clear example was the refusal of the Attorney General's
Office to declare the Trisakti shooting incident and May 1998
riots, as well as other cases known as Semanggi I in October 1998
and Semanggi II in September 1999, as gross violations of human
rights, as was recommended by the National Commission on Human
Rights.

During the final year of Attorney General M.A. Rachman's
tenure, the commission submitted these cases for prosecution.
However, the Attorney General's Office turned down the request,
citing a "lack of evidence".

After completing its second investigation, the commission
handed over the cases, again, to the Attorney General's Office,
which is now led by former Supreme Court justice Abdul Rahman
Saleh.

To date, the office has yet to decide whether to follow up the
commission's findings or drop them.

Hopes to uphold justice look remote as well in human rights
violation cases in the Papuan towns of Wamena and Wasior in 2001
and 2003 respectively, which allegedly involved the military and
the police. The commission has declared these cases to be gross
human rights violations.

Instead of prosecuting suspects in human rights cases, the
government has preferred to launch, last July, the second
national action plan on human rights to improve the country's
record in the field.

Under the action plan, stipulated in Presidential Decree No.
40/2004, regional administrations are to set up human rights
committees that will disseminate information and educate
bureaucrats and professional groups on human rights.

The national action plan for the next five years is expected
to improve people's awareness and protection of human rights
across the country.

The first national action plan on human rights was launched as
part of the 1999 State Policy Guidelines. The action plan clearly
failed with human rights abuses continuing unabated.

Both the government and the House have instead pushed for out-
of-court settlements for past human rights violations. In
September, the House endorsed a bill for a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, which would seek to resolve all cases
of human rights abuses that took place before Law No. 26/2000 on
the human rights tribunal came into effect.

Rights activists have warned that the commission would face an
uphill climb in its efforts to facilitate reconciliation between
the victims and perpetrators of human rights abuses, as the law
would benefit human rights perpetrators rather than helping
victims seek justice.

The establishment of the commission was mandated by a People's
Consultative Assembly Decree issued in 2000, which says the
commission will help boost national unity through reconciliation.