'Many law enforcers don't understand human rights'
'Many law enforcers don't understand human rights'
SEMARANG, Central Java (JP): Human rights activist Todung
Mulya Lubis said many law enforcers "don't understand human
rights" and often take power as the law.
"It's a fact that our judicial system is not yet free and
independent, especially when dealing with cases which are
politically laden," he told a seminar on human rights here
yesterday.
"The intervention of power holders is still strongly felt
here, and judges often fail to heed the laws and their
conscience. Instead, they follow (the wish) of the power
holders," he said.
Lubis and several other campaigners speaking at the seminar
made a fresh call on the authorities to re-examine laws and
regulations which infringe upon people's basic rights.
Lubis said that in many cases of human rights violations,
local authorities often exercise policies which are more
repressive than the laws upon which the policies are based.
"Various media reports have shown that many violations
occurred because of the inadequate protection (provided) by the
Criminal Code," he said.
He cited as examples the reported violations, in the forms of
killings or beatings, in the provinces of Irian Jaya, Aceh and
East Timor.
"There's a deep gap between the setting of human rights
standards, with their enforcement," he said.
He also pointed out the numerous laws, either those which were
established during the Dutch colonial times or those produced
after the 1945 proclamation of independence, which run counter
the principles of human rights.
He named as examples the haatzaai artikelen, a colonial-era
law against people found guilty of sowing hatred, and more recent
laws on political parties and on subversive activities.
"What's even more saddening is this reluctance among law
enforcers to implement the laws because of various political,
economic and cultural reasons," he charged.
He said there is no guarantee that a community which has
established laws in line with the principles of human rights will
also uphold them.
"The ratification of human rights instruments doesn't
necessarily mean that there's respect for human rights," he said.
The seminar was held by the Diponegoro University in
cooperation with the National Commission on Human Rights and the
national committee for the 50th independence anniversary.
It also featured Commission members Muladi, Soetandyo
Wignyosoebroto and Nurcholish Madjid, and philosopher Franz
Magnis-Suseno.
Nurcholish focused his explanation on the long-standing
debates over the "universality" of the concept of human rights
versus the "relativity" of cultures on which the principles are
implemented.
The campaign for human rights in most developing countries,
including Indonesia, has often been hampered by debates over the
two poles, he said.
For Indonesia in particular, the drive to encourage people's
awareness of human rights can be conducted in the same way it is
being done for other national programs such as family planning,
he said.
Hope
"For instance, through reminding Moslems about how Islamic
teachings respects human rights," he said. "There's always hope
for us (in campaigning for) human rights here".
Magnis-Suseno, who is also a professor at the Driyarkara
School of Philosophy, said most of the objections against the
concepts and implementation of human rights often come from those
in power.
"They are the ones who often see human rights as an obstacle
to their policies and plans," he said.
He reminded the participants in the discussion, however, that
"human rights are actually a realization of the state-ideology
Pancasila". The concept is contained in the second tenet, which
states "a just and civilized humanity", of the five-tenet
ideology, he said.
"Concerns about other human beings don't belong only to
certain philosophies or religions," he said. "Recognition of the
rights of everybody, every group...is a sign of how deep is the
humanity and solidarity of the relevant communities." (har/swe)