Rights commission's next client may be themselves
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)