Long way to go to human rights protection

Long way to go to human rights protection

JAKARTA (JP): The excessive use of force along with the
neglect of civil and political rights remained a disturbing
feature throughout the year, a leading rights group said in its
year-end assessment here yesterday.

The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) said in
its 1997 human rights assessment that given the current climate,
there was still a long way to go to better human rights promotion
and protection in Indonesia.

"Although high ranking officials here have acknowledged the
importance of human rights, in the daily practice we must admit
that there are still many violations," ELSAM's chairman Abdul
Hakim Garuda Nusantara told journalists.

ELSAM's report coincides with the 49th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights today.

Hakim said the violations varied from the excessive use of
force by security officials to violations on the right to a fair
trial and right of freedom of assembly.

In a four-page report which was accompanied by a 21-page
appendix, ELSAM criticized security officials' customary use of
force.

Criminologist Levy who was recruited by ELSAM to help with the
report said that firearms were frequently used in situations
which did not require coercive measures.

"Looking at this tendency, it can be said that the use of
firearms and coercive measures has become a pattern, whether it
is in handling demonstrations, unrest or criminal cases," the
report said.

ELSAM therefore called for the formulation of a national
guideline or code of conduct on the use of firearms and assault
weapons used by security officials.

The report also lamented continued limitations on the freedom
of assembly.

The report outlined no less than five major events which were
either stopped or banned by authorities this year.

Among the latest cases was the recent banning of a play on
slain labor activist Marsinah in Surabaya, East Java and Bandung,
West Java.

"In short, this shows that the control and restrictions on the
activities of societal organizations is continuing," the report
noted.

ELSAM further condemned what they perceived to be a string of
"political trials" such as proceedings on the 1996 Tasikmalaya
riot and the trials against the student movement in support of
labor demands in Jombang, East Java.

"We see that in these cases there is a tendency to use the
court as an instrument of deterrence, whether it is to merely
embarrass the suspect or frighten the public," the report said.

Hakim said better human rights protection required a
strengthening of the National Commission on Human Rights'
authority.

"We noticed that many of its recommendations have not been
carried out by the government," he said.

Gustaf Dupe, secretary of the Protestant church's Working
Group for Service to Prisoners, highlighted the issue of
political prisoners, particularly those imprisoned for being
members of the now banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

PKI was banned and its leaders were jailed following its
aborted coup d'etat on Sept. 30, 1965.

In a statement signed together with Bonar Tigor Naipospos of
the Manusia Indonesia untuk Kemanusiaan and Mindo Rajagukguk of
the Yayasan Hidup Baru, Dupe called on the government to
rehabilitate the civil rights of all PKI ex-convicts and their
families.

The rights of former PKI members and their families are often
abridged, such as being censured when joining the civil service.

"We are a compassionate nation. There should no longer be
discrimination against ex-convicts linked to the PKI and their
families after 32 years," Dupe told The Jakarta Post. (10/aan)