Rights body promises to do its very best

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.