Muchtar, Ratna to get awards

JAKARTA (JP): Labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan and playwright Ratna Sarumpaet have been named as recipients of awards by two separate international bodies advocating human rights.

The awards will be handed at separate ceremonies on Dec. 10, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Muchtar, 46, chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union, will receive the French Republic Prize for the Defenders of Human Rights 1998 from the French government.

"Mr. Muchtar Pakpahan has been selected along with four other personalities," a statement from the French embassy here said.

Muchtar is known as a proponent of free labor unions, which were greatly restricted under the rule of former president Soeharto.

He will receive his award in Paris.

"The official ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will take place in the grand hall at Chaillot, Paris, where the declaration was originally adopted," the statement said.

Another Indonesian, Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, has also been invited to attend the ceremony.

Other dignitaries slated to attend are French President Jacques Chirac, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and UNESCO Director General Federico Mayor.

Meanwhile, Ratna, 49, playwright turned political activist, will receive the 1998 Female Human Rights Special Award from the Tokyo-based Foundation for Human Rights in Asia.

She is among three recipients of this year's award, which has been given out since 1996, Antara reported from Tokyo on Monday.

Ratna's play Marsinah Menggugat (Marsinah Sues), about slain labor activist Marsinah, was banned by the Indonesian government on a number of occasions.

During the twilight of Soeharto's rule, Ratna founded a loose alliance of supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri and Amien Rais called SIAGA, Solidaritas Amien-Mega.

Since Soeharto's downfall, she has continued to call for political reforms in the country. (aan)