IPU to investigate human rights abuses
JAKARTA (JP): Secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Pierre Cornillon is in town to gather information on alleged violations of Indonesian legislators' basic rights.
He met yesterday with several figures here, including members of the National Commission on Human Rights and controversial politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas.
Cornillon said he was assigned to look into reports received and discussed by the IPU at its recent bi-annual conference in Beijing.
He said he focused his inquiries on violations of parliament members' basic rights.
"We act as a mediator between alleged sources of rights violations and specific governments where rights violations are reported to have occurred," Cornillon said.
A source who requested anonymity said Cornillon had earlier met with Attorney General Singgih and also hoped to meet with Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman.
The source said Cornillon and commission members discussed issues surrounding Sri Bintang Pamungkas, a House member who was dismissed by his United Development Party and is currently awaiting his appeal on a court decision that sentenced him to 34 months in jail for insulting President Soeharto.
They also discussed the fate of former house member Sukatno, who is on death row. He was imprisoned for his involvement in the Indonesian Communist Party's attempted coup in 1965. Sukatno was a parliament member under President Sukarno. The court sentenced him to death in 1971.
Cornillon also met with Bintang yesterday afternoon at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute office. Bintang was accompanied by noted lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution.
"While there is still hope for his release, we will not stop trying until we get a satisfactory answer," Cornillo said, referring to the persistent stand of the IPU in raising the case.
He said the IPU noted any violations of parliamentary members' basic rights, regardless of their ideological leanings.
The IPU, according to Cornillon, handles two types of cases: confidential cases and open cases, which are announced to the public.
Two-thirds of the total cases that IPU handles, according to Cornillo, are confidential.
He refused to comment when asked if he had also discussed the case of House member Megawati Soekarnoputri, who has been in trouble ever since she was deposed by her rival in a government- sanctioned congress in June.
Megawati has been summoned by the police and the Attorney General's Office as a witness in a subversion case involving Budiman Sudjatmiko, leader of the little-known leftist Democratic People's Party. (14)