Pigai Blasts Komnas HAM Over Free Nutritious Meals Programme: They Don't Understand Human Rights Principles!

Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai has responded to statements by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) regarding indications of human rights violations in the implementation of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme. According to him, a programme that is still in the process of being implemented cannot immediately be labelled a human rights violation. Under international human rights standards, Pigai said, an ongoing development process must be viewed as the implementation of fulfilling the community’s needs. If there are errors or irregularities, the step that must be taken is evaluation, not an immediate assessment as a human rights violation. “In the context of human rights under international standards, something that is in the process of development, the process of implementing the fulfilment of needs, must not be assessed as a human rights violation, but rather assessed as a violation in the context of evaluation,” Pigai told reporters at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta. According to Pigai, if there are management errors, legal violations, or improper governance in the implementation of the MBG, then it is more appropriate to categorise these as administrative or criminal violations, not human rights violations. “So Komnas HAM should have said there is a criminal violation. There are management errors, misleading, mismanagement, violations, aspects of the law that have been breached,” he said. He then likened the MBG programme to an unfinished building construction, where evaluation and supervision continue as long as the construction is ongoing. “For example, we are building a building. The building is not yet finished, the stages of the work process can be evaluated in phases until the building is completed,” he explained. Furthermore, Pigai criticised Komnas HAM’s perspective, which he deemed inappropriate regarding the implementation of the MBG programme. “That is why I said Komnas HAM does not understand human rights principles. Many do not understand. After all, the commissioners come from non-human rights backgrounds, they are activists,” he concluded.