Skepticism greets govt's promise on human rights
Skepticism greets govt's promise on human rights
JAKARTA (JP): The government's promise to look into a report
that concluded that most human rights violations this year were
committed by its own officials was greeted with skepticism
yesterday.
Sociologist Hotman Siahaan said the government should prove
its seriousness with deeds rather than with political statements.
"It certainly presents a dilemma for the government. The
violations have something to do with the bureaucracy," the
lecturer at Airlangga University told The Jakarta Post.
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security
Soesilo Soedarman said Saturday the government would investigate
the Center for Human Rights Studies (Yapusham) report.
"If people say violations are being committed, we will look
into it to see whether it's true or not," Soesilo was quoted by
Antara as saying.
Soesilo said the government would "accept, analyze, and
improve the report".
Law professor J. Sahetapy of Airlangga University said the
government had shown little concern for human rights from the
time of the establishment of New Order until 1993, when the
National Commission on Human Rights was founded.
It was almost impossible to be optimistic that the government
would investigate the human rights violations it allegedly
perpetrated, unless there was public pressure, Sahetapy said.
Yapusham, chaired by Todung Mulya Lubis, said in a report last
week that 85 percent of the 194 incidents of human rights
violations recorded between January 1995 and March 1996 were
committed by the authorities.
Figures
The figures were broken as 71 violations by security officers,
23 by university rectors, and 18 by provincial offices of Social
and Political Affairs. The offenses which trampled people's civil
and political rights were against freedom of speech and
expression, 101 cases, freedom to assemble, 57 cases, and the
freedom to follow one's faith, 36 cases.
Hotman said the government's investigation of the human rights
violations committed by its own officials was not open.
He said the legislative and judicial branches must exert
greater control over the government's behavior.
Hotman cited the police handling of the death of a journalist
in Yogyakarta as an example of a human rights violation by the
state which was not handled in a transparent manner.
He said police have been leaning hard on the lone suspect,
disregarding the National Commission on Human Rights suggestion
that there may possibly be alternative suspects.
The police have come under strong criticism for the way they
arrested and interrogated the suspect in this case.
Sahetapy said the government should amend existing Criminal
Code Procedures, including stipulating more explicitly the
procedures of arrest and the questioning of suspects. (08)