Rights commission's next client may be themselves

JAKARTA (JP): The police ban on a discussion in Surabaya last weekend could prove an interesting case for the National Commission on Human Rights -- the seminar was on the effectiveness of the commission.

Even more ironic was that a member of the commission, Brig. Gen. (Police) Roekmini Koesoemo Astoeti, was slated to address the limited discussion that Sunday.

The Surabaya Forum (YSF), which organized the event, was told the police's decision late on Saturday, too late to inform the speakers and participants coming from out of town, including Roekmini herself, not to bother.

Roekmini did not hide her disappointment at the decision made by her police colleagues saying that the seminar was intended to popularize the work of her commission, the Suara Pembaruan daily reported yesterday.

"But let's be positive about it. The security apparatus must have a strong reason to order the discussion to be postponed," she said.

The seminar entitled "The Effectiveness of the National Commission on Human Rights" was to be held at the Hotel Tanjung in Surabaya.

Here in Jakarta, human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the ban showed more ambivalence towards human rights by the government.

While the government has reiterated its commitment to human rights in principle, very often its practice is totally different, as shown by the Surabaya ban, he said.

He also believes that the ban was intended as a warning to the commission not to overstep its bounds after its controversial report last month on the Marsinah murder.

Mulya said the commission had turned quieter of late and noted that it has kept silent about the riots in Medan, North Sumatra, last month which left one dead and several people arrested.

Police

Ismed Hasan Putro, chief organizer of the seminar, said that he queried the Surabaya Police about the ban and was referred to the East Java Police Headquarters. When he got there, he was told that the order for the ban came from Jakarta.

They also told him that since one of the speakers was coming from Jakarta, the forum should have applied for permission to the National Police headquarters in Jakarta.

Roekmini said she was assigned to address the seminar by Baharuddin Lopa, the commission's secretary general.

The other two speakers on the bill were Philipus M Hadjon, a staff lecturer at the School of Law of the University of Airlangga in Surabaya, and Zaidun, formerly chairman of the Legal Aid Institute in Surabaya.

The foundation in the past had organized various discussions involving speakers from Jakarta.

One seminar about human rights presented legislator and publisher Albert Hasibuan, Moslem scholar Abdurrahman Wahid and outspoken Gen. (ret.) Sumitro.

"This is the first time that a seminar about the National Commission on Human Rights had been barred for no clear reason," said Ismed. (emb/imn)