Indonesian human rights: Between image and reality

Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The trouble with praise or accolades is that when you get too much, you get too high. And at the ongoing 61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Indonesia is getting plenty of praise, and deservedly so, one might argue.

Virtually all of the 52 delegations to the commission, when taking the floor for the first time, have complemented Indonesia on its successful democratic and peaceful elections last year. They also have praised the appointment of Makarim Wibisono, Indonesia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, as chair of this year's session. His appointment to lead this prestigious rights agency is seen as recognition of Indonesia's current international standing when it comes to the issues of democracy and human rights.

Indonesian delegates to the six-week gathering have not missed an opportunity to highlight the achievements the country has made in recent years in forging a democracy and addressing human rights problems at home.

There will be more praise this month when Indonesia hosts the Asia-Africa Summit and the 50th year commemoration of the Asia- Africa Conference in Bandung. This historic gathering in the West Java town of Bandung in 1955 sent a powerful message to the world of the demand of people in Asia and Africa for their most basic right: independence.

Let us indulge in this praise and let us bask in the international spotlight. It is not often that this country gets such attention from all corners of the world for the right reasons. In the recent past, the spotlight has been turned on us mostly for the wrong reasons, such as man-made and natural catastrophes.

But at the same time, let us not become intoxicated by this lavish praise.

Indonesia has come a long way in the last seven years to claim the designation as the third largest democracy in the world. But we have a long way to go yet in reaching the ideals of a just and prosperous nation, as set out by our founding fathers nearly 60 years ago when they proclaimed Indonesia's independence.

Our work is not over yet.

There seems to be a gap, albeit perhaps narrowing, between the image that Indonesia is projecting abroad in its dealings with human rights, and the reality at home.

The promotion and protection of human rights are part and parcel of the means by which we shall attain the lofty goals of the country's founders. That much was agreed upon when the country embarked on the path of reform after the end of the 32- year tyrannical regime of Soeharto in 1998.

Nearly seven years later, we are seeing some of the fruits of our labor.

The direct presidential election last year was the culmination of the hard work that went into the national reform agenda since 1998. With all its imperfections, the 2004 election placed Indonesia firmly in the ranks of the world's democracies.

Many more human rights principles are now firmly enshrined in the 1945 Constitution, thanks to a series of amendments carried out in recent years. A new human rights court has been established, and the National Commission on Human Rights has been given greater power to do its job more effectively.

The nation has adopted many of the UN conventions on rights and amended its laws accordingly to comply with the international norms set out in those conventions. The government has assured us that it will soon send the two main UN documents on human rights -- the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- to the House of Representatives for ratification.

A new law on a truth and reconciliation commission has been passed, which should enable the nation to face up to its dark past without fear of retribution.

When it comes to human rights, no one can accuse Indonesia of not doing its part in setting up the necessary legal framework, norms and mechanisms.

What we are not doing is very much what the United Nations also is not doing. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, arguing for reform in the way the world body oversees human rights, said in Geneva last week: "The era of declaration is now giving way, as it should, to an era of implementation."

In the case of Indonesia, we should usher in an era of consistent implementation.

For in spite of the progress the country claims to have made on the human rights front, not one person has been punished for gross rights violations that we know took place in Aceh, Papua, East Timor when it was under Indonesian occupation, Jakarta and many other places. The perpetrators, whether they were part of the state apparatus of the Soeharto regime or not, are still roaming free.

Impunity remains the rule here rather than the exception when it comes to dealing with human rights violations, just as it is with corruption cases.

As long as impunity remains the order of the day violations will continue unabated, and Indonesia will be unable to claim to be part of the global human rights mainstream.

Punishing the perpetrators will go a long way toward closing the gap between Indonesia's image of a nation championing the cause of human rights, as projected here in Geneva, and the hard reality back home.

Ambassador Makarim has warned that unless we change the reality, it will soon catch up with our image. When that happens, it will be difficult for Makarim and his team of diplomats to sustain Indonesia's current high international standing on human rights.

The writer is chief editor of The Jakarta Post. He visited Geneva at the invitation of the Indonesian Mission to the United Nations.