President 'accounts for human rights implementation'

President 'accounts for human rights implementation'

JAKARTA (JP): A constitutional law expert has suggested that
clauses on human rights be included in the State Policy
Guidelines to enable the nation to demand the President's
accountability for Indonesia's rights record.

The option was preferred to establishing a special People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) decree on the subject, according to
Yusril Ihza Mahendra of the University of Indonesia in a
discussion here.

"The adoption of clauses on human rights as a part of the
State Policy Guidelines means that their application comes under
the supervision of the House of Representatives and the President
will have to include them in his or her accountability speech
before the People's Consultative Assembly," said Yusril.

The discussion was held by the Golkar faction in the Assembly
in response to a long spell of polemics on whether Indonesia is
in need of its own bill of rights in the form of a separate MPR
decree.

Golkar has submitted to the Assembly its draft of the
1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines which includes clauses on human
rights protection under a section on law development.

While the Armed Forces and regional representatives factions
follow in Golkar's footsteps, minority factions the United
Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)
demanded a separate and stronger decree on human rights.

The Assembly will deliberate the PPP and PDI drafts of human
rights charter from Dec. 11 to Dec. 16.

Yusril, also an Assembly member representing Golkar, said a
separate decree would not help bring about improved human rights
because such a decree did not have the power to be enforced.

He added such a decree would spark more debate because people
in the country have different views on human rights.

He said several decrees established by the provisional
Assembly in the past have never worked until today.

They include a decree to award youth activists as national
heroes for their demand to ban the Indonesian Communist Party in
1966, and another which bans people from promoting communism.

Yusril offered a way-out of the protracted debate by asking
the government to set up a new law which contains human rights
protection compiled from all the country's present laws. The new
law should be socialized through a presidential decree, he said.

"The way-out is far simpler and will not spark debate, because
the laws which contribute to the so-called law on human rights
have been approved by the House and the President," he said.

Secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights,
Baharuddin Lopa, said he personally preferred a separate decree
because it would give a strong legal basis to human rights
protection.

"The decree is aimed at avoiding arbitrary governance by the
power holders. It seems to me that the decree must affect the
government officials first because they tend to abuse human
rights," Lopa said.

He said since the rights body inception in 1993, it had
reported 7,000 cases of human rights violations, most of them
committed by government officials.

Lopa questioned Golkar's reasons for refusing "the mounting
demand for a human rights charter", saying that it would only
raise allegations that the dominant party hampers
democratization.

"As the biggest political organization, Golkar should agree on
the rising demand to increase public confidence," Lopa said.

Separately yesterday, women's rights activists called for the
revocation of policies which they alleged have intensified gender
stereotypes and restricted women's access to economic, social and
political roles.

They claimed that such policies, which are partly stipulated
in the State Policy Guidelines, Marriage Law and Manpower Law,
had discriminated women in society, their households and their
professional environment.

The activists said that the government's attitude toward
women's roles was contrary to the United Nations' Convention on
the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which
Indonesia ratified in 1984.

"The government's ambivalent attitude greatly contributed to
the discrepancy between its will to eliminate discrimination and
to promote women's status, with the legal practices and
policies," said Nursyahbani Katjasungkana who chairs the Women's
Group for Monitoring the Implementation of CEDAW.

She said so-called "women's double roles" -- touted by the
government in 1978 as a concept to enhance women's roles both
inside and outside the home -- had overly burdened women.

"If women are ordered to play a double role, so should men.
There should be programs for men to train them in domestic work,
so both men and women can share (the role)," said Nursyahbani.
(amd/09)