Komnas HAM office set up in Kupang

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) inaugurated on Wednesday its representative office in the East Nusa Tenggara capital of Kupang.

The establishment is aimed at promoting human rights in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, which shares a border with East Timor.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the establishment of the representative office was signed here by East Nusa Tenggara Governor Piet A. Tallo, all regents in the province and the Secretary General of Komnas HAM, Gembong Priyono.

The MoU was also witnessed by the chief of East Nusa Tenggara police, Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang, whose personnel will play a pivotal role in the investigation of any human rights abuses in the province.

In his official statement, Governor Tallo asserted that the establishment of the representative office was greatly needed.

He said that human right abuses in the province had concerned his administration, so that the presence of the office in the province would help local authorities investigate and uncover human right abuses.

The governor did not go into detail on the number of cases that had occurred.

"We praise the establishment of the office. It can help establish and strengthen the supremacy of law in the province," he said after the signing of the MoU.

Meanwhile, Gembong said that the Kupang office of Komnas HAM represented the interests of the Komnas HAM's central office in Jakarta. All operational and overhead costs of the representative office, however, were incurred by the East Nusa Tenggara provincial government, said Gembong.

Komnas HAM has established several representative offices in other provinces, including the troubled provinces of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Papua and Central Kalimantan.

Human rights abuses have reportedly occurred frequently in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, especially after East Timor became independent in 1999.

Hundreds of thousands of East Timorese were forced into the province aboard military vehicles in 1999, during the post-ballot mayhem in September that year.

Border-crossing, mostly for economic reasons but others with apparent criminal or political intent, has gone on relatively unchecked since then, and as a result, unnecessary shooting incidents occasionally occur near the border with East Timor, allegedly perpetrated by both the Indonesian and East Timor military personnel.

Recent shootings occurred after border-crossers, with unclear motives and exhibiting suspicious behavior, were discovered sneaking around the border with weapons.