Lopa sees violation against Mulyana

JAKARTA (JP): The Secretary General of the National Commission on Human Rights said the authorities may have violated the rights of human rights campaigner Mulyana W. Kusumah when it accused him this month of having past communist links.

Baharuddin Lopa however told friends and supporters of Mulyana in his office that the commission could not assist him in the case.

"I suggest Mulyana take his case to court," Lopa said.

Seven human rights campaigners, headed by H.J.C. Princen, met with Lopa yesterday to ask for the commission's intervention.

The military this month said Mulyana in the 1960s was a member of a youth organization which was closely linked to the now outlawed Indonesian Communist Party. Because of this link, the military said Mulyana had lost his right to vote in the 1997 general election. The military said the decision was irreversible.

Mulyana has been in the news this past month, first for his activities as secretary general of the newly set up Independent Election Monitoring Committee, and later for the accusations leveled against him. He has denied of ever joining any outlawed organization.

Princen argued that the authorities had confused the organization that Mulyana joined with another leftist group with similar name. "They have no evidence to show that Mulyana was a member of the red one," he said during the meeting with Lopa.

He suspected that the real intention of the military's public disclosure was to discredit the poll watchdog which had been gaining wider acceptance nationwide.

In a statement, Princen and his colleagues said the practice of accusing one of being a communist had been used in the past by the government to suppress its critics.

Accusations of past communist ties have been known to end many people's career, both in and outside the government.

The military and the government had opposed the establishment of a separate election monitoring committee outside the formal election structure.

Baharuddin said the National Commission on Human Rights would not address the Mulyana question directly but he would be willing to assist the activists in contacting the military to arrange for a meeting. Another alternative is for Mulyana to take his case to the court, he added.

Princen and his colleagues said they have written to the military to clear up the issue but their requests have not been answered. (16)