Rights abuses remain rife in 2001
Rights abuses remain rife in 2001
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Human rights abuses involving the state remain rife as the
economic crisis continues to batter Indonesia, a local human
rights watchdog says.
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), an affiliation of
the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI),
predicts that the situation will not improve next year.
In its year-end assessment of human rights, LBH Jakarta notes
that the state has committed various human rights violations in
its search for foreign aid.
Like other developing countries, Indonesia was currently in
the grip of globalization where economic considerations came
above human rights respect, LBH Jakarta acting chairman Paulus R.
Mahulette told a discussion last week on the institution's year-
end assessment.
"This neo-liberal regime doesn't favor social movements such
as labor unions or any other civil society organizations. The
economic-oriented programs are initiated to meet the requirements
to obtain foreign aid. People's interest receives a lower
priority. Schemes such as privatization has become major causes
of rights violations this year," Paulus said.
The grim conditions had, in fact, been predicted by the
institute last year due to the return of the repressive security
approach. The government had also failed to show commitment to
democratization and law enforcement.
Throughout the year, the institute, which works in favor of
the needy, received 1,280 cases. They are handled by four
divisions: labor issues, civil and political rights, women and
children, and urban affairs.
The cases include the violation of a right to education
because of the privatization of universities which caused school
fees to rocket, massive layoffs, and threats to workers' freedom
of association and expression.
LBH Jakarta also said that the law and the government had yet
to defend common people's interests. This was obvious in
decisions by the courts which ruled mainly in favor of the rich,
and the continuing eviction of the poor in urban areas to make
way for development projects.
It noted cases where the powerful hire hoodlums to attack
protesting laborers and the urban poor, setting the stage for
communal conflicts.
The institute also reported efforts to suppress human rights
activists during the year, including character assassination to
murder attempts.
"We predict that in 2002, the human rights situation will
remain a mess, and that the people's sense of justice will still
be hurt, because the law enforcers and the law do not protect
them," LBH Jakarta said in its report.