Rights body needs revamping, activists say

Rights body needs revamping, activists say

JAKARTA (JP): Activists have urged the government to reform
the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas-HAM), which they
said was ineffective as it was dominated by a "conservative
group".

They claimed that the rights body had failed to carry out the
mission laid out by the government, which founded it in 1993.

Asmara Nababan, the Komnas secretary-general, proposed on
Saturday that the House of Representatives screen new Komnas
members and rescreen the 18 incumbent members to refresh the
organization.

"A fit and proper test is needed to have professional Komnas
members who are selected through a transparent process.
Otherwise, Komnas will never have professional personnel," he
said.

As stipulated by law, Komnas has 35 members. The membership
has dropped to 18 and is in the process of recruiting another 17.
The selection of new members has been heating up with internal
politicking.

The rights body will propose new names to the House by Sept.
23. The House will have the final say in the selection. On the
list are big names such as Todung Mulya Lubis, Hendardi, Abdul
Hakim Garuda Nusantara and Wardah Hafidz.

Asmara declined to identify the "conservative" members but
reliable sources at the rights body said they included Djoko
Sugianto, chairman of the rights body, Koesparmono Irsan, Sugiri
and Aisyah Amini.

The sources, who requested anonymity, said the conservative
members, mostly ex-servicemen and former civil servants, were
pro-military in their stance.

Asmara conceded that the conservative camp had made the
current membership selection tough.

The independent selection team, set up by the commission, has
proposed 14 new names but the commission, by a vote, decided to
propose another 20.

Although the commission has agreed to cut the total number of
members to 25 to make the body more effective, the conservative
camp has changed its mind and wants to maintain 35.

"If the House agrees to allow the commission to have 35
members, all the money allocated to Komnas will all be spent on
operation costs," Asmara said.

As a comparison, a similar body in Malaysia has only 11
members, while the Philippines has five and India 10.

Asmara said the recent resignations of Benyamin Mangkudilaga,
who was appointed as justice, and Anton Suyata, who was appointed
chairman of Ombudsman, have weakened the position of the
progressive group who were committed to upholding human rights
and conducting independent investigations into human rights
abuses.

"Over the last year, tension between the two camps has
crippled its investigations into human rights abuses in Maluku,
Irian Jaya, Aceh, Sampit (Central Kalimantan) and Poso (Central
Sulawesi)," he said.

Joko Sugianto and Koesparmono Irsan were not available for
comment.

Munir, who declined to be named a member of the human rights
commission, said he had long observed the commission's
ineffectiveness because of the presence of the conservative
members.

"It's better for the House to conduct a fit and proper test on
the commission's current 18 members because 75 percent of them
are not professional and have no strong commitment in
investigating human rights abuses," he said.

Munir, who is also the chairman of the Commission for Missing
Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said in addition to
handling past human rights abuses, the commission should be
proactive in investigating human rights violations in Aceh,
Ambon, Irian Jaya, Sampit and Poso. (rms)