Rights body promises to do its very best

By Imanuddin

JAKARTA (JP): At 71, Munawir Sjadzali has a new job and his children don't like it very much.

"They say I have been working with the government for too long," Munawir says with a smile. "They wish I could be less busy."

His adult children -- Muchlis, Mustain, Muhtadi, Mustadiyati, Mutiawati and Muflichatun -- wish their father could be "just an ordinary member" instead of the new chairman of the National Commission of Human Rights.

Far from retiring and spending more time with his wife Murni, Munawir instead faces a life in the spotlight.

His election confirmed that Commission members carried out the wish of the late founder and chairman of the Commission, Ali Said, to elect Munawir.

Earlier he had insisted that "no chairman is elected by a will. But I will not shirk my responsibility," he had said.

As Ali's successor, he insists that he will remain "low profile." Munawir will act behind the scenes, allowing the press to hound his members instead, like under Ali Said.

"I am better at settling problems if I remain low profile," he told The Jakarta Post.

Born in Klaten, Central Java, on Nov. 7 1925, Munawir was among the 25 men and women appointed by President Soeharto to serve on the National Human Rights Commission in December 1993.

The man with whom the public became familiar as minister of religious affairs, was one of those members who preferred to remain silent in press conferences.

Munawir, a former career diplomat, retired from public office in 1993 after serving as minister of religious affairs from 1983 to 1988, and from 1988 to 1993. After that he served on the Supreme Advisory Council.

He has a M.A. in political philosophy from Georgetown University in the US, and holds an honorary doctorate from the Jakarta Syarif Hidayatullah State Institute for Islamic Studies.

Since Ali, also a former Chief Justice, died of asthma in June, the succession issue has caused vigorous public debate.

People always expect a successor to be at least as good, if not better, than his predecessor. But Munawir makes few promises.

"I will do my best to maintain the commission's independence and prestige, which previous chairman Ali Said struggled for," he said after his installment.

When asked about his agenda, Munawir said that the most difficult thing would be to justify people's trust in the Commission.

"The rights body faces great challenges in the future because of rising expectations," he said.

"We have to help them settle their problems. We cannot disappoint them," he added.

People come to the Commission to avoid what they perceive as the stifling bureaucracy involved in processing complaints at the House of Representatives, he said.

This is reflected in the number of cases settled by the Commission. In 1994 the Commission reported 572 cases settled. The figure grew to 867 last year.

"Many outspoken activists of non-governmental organizations, who reported human rights violation cases to us, have saluted our work," he said.

An undisclosed foreign country has also asked for help in establishing a system for human rights protection.

After the Commission was run for more than three months by deputies Miriam Budiardjo and Marzuki Darusman, it elected Munawir as the new chairman, in what members dubbed a most "democratic" election.

On Tuesday Munawir won with 12 votes out of 21. He defeated Arnold Baramuli, a businessman and Golkar legislator, by five votes. Albert Hasibuan and Muladi abstained.

Commenting on skepticism on the Commission's independence, Munawir confessed he was not surprised.

"That is not a new issue anymore. We have had this problem since the Commission was established," he admitted.

The Commission was derided as a mere facade set up in reaction to foreign donors attacking Indonesia's human rights record.

The Commission, observers point out, reports all its activities and findings to the President.

Doubts concerning the body's independence are deepened by the fact that Munawir has been a government employee most of his life and can thus be expected to be close to the government.

Munawir never betrays any concern about these suspicions.

"The show must go on. And Bismillah, with God's blessing, there will be no pressure on us in our task of guaranteeing human rights protection in Indonesia," he said.

International organizations do not pressure the Commission either, he said.

"We always go our own way on human rights violations," he said.

He criticized the West for being too critical of human rights violations in Indonesia.

"Western countries may criticize Indonesia's human rights violations. But what do they have to say about the 350 years of Dutch colonization?" he said.

July 27 riots

One of the latest indications of the Commission's independence, Munawir said, was the report on the July 27 riots to the government and the press. Many had doubted whether the figures would be any different to those revealed by the government.

In August the Commission announced that five people had died, 149 had been injured and 74 were missing.

A week after the press conference President Soeharto asked the Commission to prove its findings.

The subsequent rapid downward revision of the 'missing' figure caused people to doubt the Commission's independence all over again. But Munawir denied allegations of government interference.

"It was only natural for the government to ask us to prove our findings," he said.

The statements of Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono, and Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung, who both denied any government pressure on the Commission, should be accepted, Munawir said.

The State Secretariat pays for the rights commission.

"I am not a candidate ordered by the government to fill the post of chairman," Munawir insists.

His fellow commission members welcomed his election. The commission's Deputy Chairman Marzuki Darusman and Secretary- general Baharuddin Lopa said Munawir had the independence, integrity and vision required for the post.

When asked whether there would be more commission members as planned, Munawir pointed to the problem of funds.

He cited the rights commission of the Philippines, which only has five members but hundreds of staff.