Human rights violation

Human rights violation

I am Onno W. Purbo, the husband of Nurlina N. Purbo. Hereby I
wish to report an abuse of human rights involving my wife Nurlina
by the Natural Resources Management (NRM) Program, funded by
USAID.

My wife was dismissed before her contract ended on Sept. 30,
2001, and was unfairly treated. The following are some supporting
facts:

* During her pregnancy leave, my wife received a letter (dated
May 16, 2000) from the project manager demanding she resign. This
is blatantly a violation of human rights.

* After her pregnancy leave ended (May 25, 2000), NRM did not let
my wife continue her work as before. This clearly violates
Ministry of Manpower regulation No. Per-03/Men/1989 Article 2,
and No. Per-03/Men/1996 Article 2, Paragraph 4(c).

* In a letter dated June 28, 2000, NRM canceled the letter dated
May 16, 2000, and demanded that Nurlina came back to work as soon
as possible.

* However, a severance letter (which had no legitimacy) was
delivered on June 30, 2000. Among the defects of the letter were
the following:

1) The dismissal was without the written approval of the Ministry
of Manpower.

2) The letter included a copy of an application of permission
from the Ministry of Manpower.

3) The application only had a Rp 2,000 postal tax; hence it was
not legitimate and not valid.

4) The letter also included a document listing chronological
working violations allegedly committed by Nurlina. This was only
a fabricated document, without evidence and unsigned.

This is certainly a very shameful act by a U.S.-sponsored
project, violating human rights in Indonesia.

I hope that NRM and USAID, along with the American Embassy in
Jakarta, can settle the matter amicably and compensate both the
material and nonmaterial losses born by my wife Nurlina.

ONNO W. PURBO

Jakarta