Protection against torture

The uproar over the death of Tjetje in police detention has done some good. Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman yesterday said that Indonesia would shortly ratify the Convention Against Torture. This is an international convention which seeks to guarantee to all individuals -- even the biggest criminals -- the right not to be tortured.

Indonesia actually already signed this convention a long time ago -- to be precise on Oct.23, 1985, together with 80 other countries. By that act the Indonesian state acknowledged to the international community its moral obligation to protect any person in areas under Indonesian jurisdiction against the threat of torture in whatever form. For reasons unclarified, however, Indonesia has still not ratified the document.

However, it must be remembered that a ratification of the convention does not necessarily mean that there will be no more cases of torture by officials. This must be underlined because our problem is often not that laws are lacking. Rather, it is the fact that existing laws are often not properly implemented. Take for example the protection which our present code of criminal law procedures (KUHAP) affords crime suspects. Apart from the shortcomings which this code may contain, a faithful implementation of its stipulations would have prevented torture such as that endured by Tjetje from happening.

Our main problem, actually, concerns the extent to which we are willing to faithfully implement existing laws and regulations. Any regulation and any document is easily enough violated as long as we lack the moral conscience and moral commitment that are necessary for them to be effective.

-- Republika, Jakarta