Right leaders deplore threats to ICW
Right leaders deplore threats to ICW
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Legal and human rights leaders deplored a threat by two civilian
security groups, who are apparently linked with Minister of
Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea, to occupy the office
of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), after the watchdog
apparently angered the minister.
The rights activists also urged the National Police to take
action and to protect the anti-corruption campaigners.
"It is the responsibility of the National Police to protect
the office of ICW," Solahuddin Wahid from the National Commission
on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) told The Jakarta Post here on
Sunday.
He said the public could not be allowed to resort to violent
action in response to criticism. If someone considers a criticism
to be a form of defamation, then he or she should file the case a
court law, he added.
Fellow rights campaigner Hendardi from the Indonesian Legal
Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) joined the chorus of
condemnation against the threats by the minister's people, saying
it simply showed their disrespect of the law.
Nuwa Wea's supporters threatened on Saturday to occupy the ICW
office in South Jakarta after giving the corruption watchdog an
ultimatum that it must apologize to the minister within three
days or else.
The group, claiming to be from the Banteng Jakarta (Jakarta
Bulls) and Eksponen 27 Juli (July 27 Figures) was apparently
enraged by ICW, which said that an investigation based on public
reports it conducted had found that instead of holding a
transparent screening process for insurance firms to cater to the
needs of migrant workers, the minister had personally appointed
five insurance firms, as part of the government policy to provide
a special insurance scheme for migrant workers.
The two groups, who are closely affiliated with President
Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan), to which Nuwa Wea belongs, accused the watchdog
of slandering Nuwa Wea with its finding.
Nuwa Wea has denied the allegation.
The situation came to head when ICW deputy coordinator Danang
Widoyoko said earlier that he planned to report the minister to
the police after the enraged minister grabbed him, hit him in the
head and heaped coarse language upon him at the end of a Metro TV
talk show, wherein Danang had revealed in front of the live
television audience on Wednesday about the alleged insurance
scam.
"They (Nuwa Wea's guards) must not make such threats. It
contradicts all existing laws," Solahuddin said.
He said if the National Police refused to protect ICW, such
intimidation and thuggery would hamper freedom of expression.
He urged the minister to tell the two groups to back off, and
refrain from taking the law into their own hands.
Hendardi concurred, saying the police must take immediate
action to deal with intimidation from private security units.
He recalled similar incidents in the recent past, including
the attack on the office of Tempo magazine by the private
security unit affiliated with businessman Tomy Winata and the
attack on the office of the Commission for Missing Persons and
Victims of Violence (Kontras) by a private group of military
veteran's relatives.
Hendardi said that such gangster-like intimidation could
readily be ordered by people with power or money in their hands.
"Acts of intimidation by one group against others will only
weaken our legal system. If citizens do not respect the law, it
will lead the nation to downfall," he said.
In its recent report, the International Crisis Group
recommended the disbandment of all civilian auxiliary and private
security militias as they often exacerbate, rather than allay,
political tension, especially as the country will have elections
in 2004.