Political trials 'have been used to curb dissent'
JAKARTA (JP): Political trials have become a legal ploy exploited by the government to curb dissent, rights activists said here yesterday.
"Political trials are an irrefutable phenomenon of how the government treats dissenting parties," the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association's (PBHI) executive director Hendardi told journalists.
He said the trials were merely a formality and usually ended with punishment against the so-called "dissidents".
"Trials are also aimed at frightening the public against emulating such dissent," Hendardi said.
PBHI, in its 1997 human rights evaluation, said yesterday that during the year a number of public figures were taken to court as their political views were deemed to be an affront to the government.
They include former legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas, labor activist Muchtar Pakpahan, alleged book distributor Rachmad Buchori Nasution, ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party Megawati Soekarnoputri and activists of the Democratic People's Party's (PRD).
PBHI condemned these persecutions saying that political trials resembled practices by authoritarian countries, and should not occur in a democratic society where such practices are abandoned.
"To try a person's political view is against the right to freedom of expression," Hendardi said, adding that in a democratic state, citizens should not be tried for harboring different political views.
Hendardi lamented the continued persistence of a number of repressive laws such as the 1963 Antisubversion Law which the government has kept alive under the pretext that political dynamism may threaten national stability.
Violations
In its 28-page evaluation, PBHI claimed that human rights violations were worse this year than 1996, particularly in terms of civil and political rights.
Based on reports from PBHI's network in 32 cities throughout the country, 412 civil and political rights violations were recorded, compared to 1996 which only saw 291 recorded cases.
PBHI also specified three other categories of rights violations -- workers' rights, land rights and consumer rights.
The PBHI report cited 1,982 violations of workers' rights, 361 cases of forced land appropriation, and 1,509 violations of consumer rights.
PBHI claimed that more than 60 percent of civil and human rights violations were committed by either police or military officials.
Victims of these cases were predominately political and public figures, accounting for 227 cases.
Other victims included 56 student cases, 50 journalist cases, 38 cases involving non-governmental organizations, political parties 38 cases and religious groups 22 cases.
Ninety-three cases involved "individuals" not included in the above.
PBHI reported that most of the workers' rights violations involved wage and allowance matters, 1,157 out of the 1,982 workers' rights violations cases recorded.
PBHI further lamented the government's slow response in investigating a number of cases which involved human rights violations.
It said that up till the end of this year, there had been little sign from the government to initiate thorough investigations on several "unfinished cases" such as the July 27, 1996 riot, the murder of labor activist Marsinah and the murder of Bernas journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin.
"Human rights violations will be worse if the government lets these cases slip away or stalls the investigation to protect certain parties," Hendardi warned. (10)