Rights watchdogs give bad marks to government

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Human rights watchdogs gave the thumbs down to the government on Tuesday, for policies they considered unfavorable and even flagrant violations of human rights principles.

The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) said that people's socioeconomic rights worsened throughout 2003 due to government policies, particularly those on military operations in Aceh and the recent evictions in Jakarta.

The two policies did not only violate human rights directly through their violent approaches but also indirectly through their creation of "internally displaced people" (IDP), said Elsam executive director Ifdhal Kasim.

"These refugees in their own country are in the end deprived of their socioeconomic rights to shelter, education and employment," said Ifdhal in a press conference, organized in observance of Human Rights Day.

While the deprivation of the right to education might not seem as apparent as the deprivation of the right to shelter, it is in fact a virtual impossibility for children living in a refuge to go to school, explained Ifdhal.

Meanwhile, their right to seek a means of livelihood and even to live are negated as well, particularly in the case of evicted fishermen of Muara Angke, North Jakarta, since their profession requires them to live near the sea.

Elsam also warned of global economic trends pressuring the government in setting up its economic policies, in particular the trend toward privatization, which could deprive citizens of their socioeconomic rights.

"A clear example of this is the water bill, which, if enacted, will place water more as a commodity rather than a basic necessity," said Ifdhal.

Meanwhile, another watchdog, Imparsial, noted four major human rights violations throughout this year, which include martial law in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and the recent evictions by the Jakarta government.

The two others were the shooting of farmers by police in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, and the amendment of the controversial Law No. 15/2003 on acts of terror, which Imparsial considers disappointing because it still poses a threat to human rights.

Imparsial also warned of possible maneuvers by the political elite in the upcoming general election to win over naive voters yearning for a sense of security in the country.

"They will campaign for the implementation of policies emphasizing security but ignoring and even threatening human rights," said Leonard Simanjuntak, research manager of Imparsial.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Nationalist University Students Movement (GMNI) criticized what it saw as the ignorance and disregard of the political elite toward socioeconomic rights, which can be seen in the violation of those rights in the recent evictions in Jakarta.

GMNI also demanded a complete investigation into the 1965 abortive coup d'etat which was blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party, the rehabilitation of civilians branded as communists involved in the coup, and the trial of high-ranking military officers involved in the 1984 Tanjung Priok shooting incident.

Dec. 10 is celebrated annually as Human Rights Day, in commemoration of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, 1948.

Indonesia itself has ratified the declaration, besides other international human rights conventions such as the convention for the protection of children and the conventions against torture, against discrimination and against violence toward women.

Indonesia has also enacted Law No. 39/1999 on human rights, and Law No. 26/2000 on human rights tribunal.