Human rights violations lamented
JAKARTA (JP): The newly-established Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) took note yesterday of power abuses as it concluded its end of year evaluation on human rights.
The association's executive director Hendardi said there was deep concern about the malfunctioning of Indonesia's legal and judicial institutions and about political violence which had almost reached a critical point.
His comments coincided with yesterday's 48th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
He said the institutions had fallen short of ensuring law enforcement and justice. Instead, they have reduced themselves to instruments of the authorities.
Citing the trials of the July 27 rioters Hendardi said judicial proceedings were just a device to find scapegoats for the violence.
The riots came after supporters of the officially-backed Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) chairman, Soerjadi, attacked and took over the party's headquarters which was occupied by supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the ousted PDI chairwoman.
According to the National Commission on Human Rights five people died, 149 were injured and 23 in the riots while 23 were still missing.
"It's obvious in this case that human rights violations, or at least discrimination of justice, have been permitted to go ahead," Hendardi said.
He reiterated his criticism against the use of the Dutch colonial-era Subversion Law, saying Indonesia had suffered a major setback in the development of its laws.
"As if to add insult to injury, the Attorney General, the final bastion for justice seekers, sparked controversies by quashing lower court verdicts on land disputes in Kedung Ombo, Central Java and in Irian Jaya, the ban of Tempo magazine and the exoneration of labor group leader Muchtar Pakpahan," Hendardi said.
He also lamented the government's failure to ratify the international covenant against torture. "The government is too slow to adapt to international standards," Hendardi said. "This allows human rights violations conducted by law enforcing bureaucrats." (amd)