Public expressions 'restricted'

Public expressions 'restricted'

On Monday, three women were detained for 24 hours in Jakarta
after they protested soaring food prices. Elsewhere in Indonesia,
over one hundred people were held after rioting in various towns.
Deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights
Marzuki Darusman discusses human rights violations related to
these demonstrations and riots.

Question: Were there any violations of human rights committed
during and after the spate of demonstrations and rioting?

Marzuki: The government is supposed to use different
approaches to contain demonstrations and riots. Rioting was
sparked by the scarcity and rising cost of foodstuff and had no
political motivation. However demonstrations held in Jakarta and
other cities demanding an improvement to the current situation
from the government were loaded with political messages.

In the riots there were a number of human rights violations.
Particularly affected were shopowners who were attacked by the
mobs and weaker members of society who were unable to buy
essential commodities.

If rioting is regarded as a criminal act, security officers
may have treated the rioters accordingly when restoring order.
There were a number of casualties reported and the National
Commission on Human Rights has sent teams to investigate whether
or not there were human rights violations perpetrated by security
officers.

In dealing with demonstrations of a political nature, security
officers should not have prevented demonstrators from expressing
their aspirations. Instead, they should have assisted the
demonstrators in conveying their message to the House of
Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly.

We are also trying to determine whether authorities have
violated the law when dealing with demonstrators. There are 125
people who have been detained without observance of the correct
legal procedures by the Jakarta police.

Q: Do you see any improvement in the way the authorities handle
demonstrators in terms of human rights protection?

M: There is an improvement in rhetorical statements. Former
Armed Forces commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung said security officers
should uphold the protection of human rights when dealing with
demonstrations. Whether this statement has been put into practice
is questionable.

After five successful MPR General Sessions, there should have
been visible improvements in the political process and in
security arrangements. However, reality shows that security
measures in the run-up to next month's General Session have been
intensified, giving the public an odd impression. The authorities
should have been easing security despite the economic crisis.

Q: Why should the government take stern measures against rioters
and demonstrators?

M: The government should have taken measures to allow the public
to convey their political aspirations. The MPR only accommodates
formal aspirations raised during last year's general election,
while its members are ignoring the real and constantly developing
aspirations of society. That is why public reactions to the
monetary crisis are not being accommodated by the MPR.

Q: Does this mean that the authorities have violated the public's
political rights?

M: It is more of a restriction of political rights rather than a
violation. The authorities have restricted the public from
expressing political opinions.

Q: Why has your commission not called on the government to become
more open to the public's aspirations as a way to reduce tension?

M: Since November, the commission has repeatedly appealed to the
government to listen to, or at least pretend to hear, public
opinion. It can be difficult to convince the government that
political aspirations naturally develop from time to time and
cannot be restricted in a defensive way. The public is restricted
from political expression by a number of prohibitions.

Q: Two non-governmental organization activists are reportedly
missing. Have you found out their whereabouts?

M: No, we still don't know. If they are missing, it does not
necessarily mean they have been killed. They might be in hiding.

Q: Were all those attacked by rioters people of Chinese descent,
as reported in the press?

M: No. People from a number of different ethnic backgrounds were
targeted.

Q: Did you find any correlation between the recent riots and the
call from the Indonesian Ulemas Council for a jihad (holy war)
against currency speculators and hoarders of essential
commodities?

M: We have not investigated that. But such a simplistic call
could very easily be misunderstood. If there is a relationship,
the council should take moral responsibility.

The call has oversimplified the phenomenon because stockpiling
of commodities could have resulted from poor sales at a time when
buyers' purchasing power was declining or through their efforts
to ensure that they had adequate supplies of goods to carry out
trade. (riz)