Human rights requires political change

JAKARTA (JP): Human rights campaigners said that political change was needed to instill a greater respect for human rights in the nation. They blamed the existing political system, which 'monopolized the states' use of legal violence', for many rights' violations and violence.

Marzuki Darusman of the National Commission of Human Rights, Bambang Widjojanto of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute and philosopher Rocky Gerung agreed in a seminar yesterday that, despite some progress in recent years, the promotion of people's basic rights was very inadequate.

Marzuki said a number of crisis, such as violations of labor rights and violence against students, stemmed from the deteriorating political system.

His opinion was seconded by Bambang and Rocky. The speakers agreed that a substantial change in the country's politics was needed to develop people's respect for human rights.

"The current political system doesn't permit the country to respect human rights," Marzuki said.

"I don't mean that the situation is hopeless, because I still believe that the general elections held every five years represent real opportunities to bring about political change."

He pointed out that, according to the criminal code, the suggestion of political change did not constitute a crime so long as the notion did not refer to the head of state. In fact, the code could allow people to demand that the government improve the political system.

Marzuki explained that many new problems, such as the Indonesian Democratic Party's (PDI) leadership crisis and the conflict among judges of the Supreme Court, were caused by the government.

"It's actually easy for the government to be popular among its people. Just follow the people's demands on cases such as the PDI," he said.

Rocky said that the people no longer had "civil and political rights". The House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the National Committee of Human Rights had failed to fight for justice.

Rocky warned that when people were unable to channel their aspirations through the House of Representatives, they might be tempted to take their grievances to the streets.

He said the House, the Supreme Court and the National Committee of Human Rights were no more than instruments of the state used to maintain its power: "The state is basically built on the use of power...by exercising violence."

Also at the seminar was a student from the Indonesian Moslem University in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, who was involved in a clash with security personnel when thousands of students held protests against a transportation fare rise in April this year. (16)