No more rights activists?

No more rights activists?

From Koran Tempo

Human rights activists are apparently nowhere to be found anymore, while rights violators are not held accountable for their actions. Why is the struggle to uphold human rights suffering such a setback now?

In the early 1990s, a lot of rights activists emerged, such as the late HJC Princen, who was director of a human rights defense institute and fought to uphold human rights in the face of suppression by the authorities.

Since the beginning of the reform movement and the fall of Soeharto's New Order regime in 1998, rights violations have taken place with greater frequency, notably the May 1998 riots, the Trisakti and Semanggi I and II cases, and the East Timor rights abuses in 1999.

The charge by an East Timor tribunal that Indonesian presidential candidate Gen. (ret) Wiranto committed serious rights violations in that territory should arouse our concern. Worse still, rights activist Solahuddin Wahid, who fought for justice in the May 1998 riots, is now Wiranto's running mate.

Let us hope that more rights advocates will be awakened to continue the struggle, and that the government will thoroughly resolve all outstanding rights cases in Indonesia, so that the nation's civilized image can be restored.

BIMO JATMIKO Bogor, West Java