The cruelty of law: Reflecting the International Day on Anti

The cruelty of law: Reflecting the International Day on Anti JP/6/TJHIN

Reform and the cruelty of law

Christine Susanna Tjhin Jakarta

Almost seven years after reform, rule of law as one of the key pillar of democracy remains a fragile one with holes and fungus. By law enforcement, we seek for the certainty of law, but what we get is the cruelty of law.

In 2002, a PBHI's report (Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association) showed how the police occupied 60 percent of the reported cases of state violence. In 2004, another human rights organization, Imparsial, confirmed similar stellar dominance after conducting a research on media reports on violence in various areas.

Why we focus on the National Police (Polri)? Since its separation from the Indonesian Military (TNI), as part of Indonesia's overall security sector reform and democratization process, the police has regained its full original mandate to "protect" and to "nurture and serve the people" as depicted in Law No. 2/2002 on Polri.

We know that Police reform has not been as "popular" as military reform. Police also faces huge tasks of curbing corruption as well as terrorist bombings here and there. Still, Police is a key element in the war against torture.

Does Police has a culture of violence? We do not want to jump into that conclusion, even though semi-popular thought may well exist, if not actually stem from, the idea of "Indonesia having a culture of violence".

The red line, however, can be traced from the legal and institutional structure of POLRI and Criminal Code and/or Court in Indonesia. Law on Police is not conducive for mainstreaming anti-torture paradigm, as article 18 allows policemen "to take action in accordance to their judgments".

The minimum human rights educational background, meager wage and benefits, low discipline records and laziness would utterly hamper "good judgment". If we combine that to the content of Criminal Code that accepts suspect's testimony as a legitimate proof in an investigation process, what we get is a "functional" action in the police structure.

The establishment of the National Police Commission (NPC) through Presidential Regulation No. 17/2005, may open some opportunities. However, NPC bears nothing more than consultative mandate. It is not able to perform control or give sanctions. It is more assigned vaguely to monitor (not investigate) the performance of Police, sustain a professional recruitment mechanism, and to pile public complaints. Moreover, the independency of NPC is now under question.

Another front is the controversial Criminal Code Bill. Torture is amongst the list of new types of crime. But the Code is missing the "state apparatus" element in idea of torture. State apparatus has the mandate, the power and facilities to uphold law enforcement that are beyond civilian authority and the people. Violation of such mandate, power and, most importantly, trust, must be severely punished. It cannot be treated as "mere" crime.

At the very essence of matters, anti-torture mainstreaming must penetrate all security and legal reform on the legislation as well as institution level. There are at least 9 bills in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) that are directly relevant to security sector reform, 19 in legal reforms, and 30 on the matters crucial to the civil and political rights. These are our homework in spreading the anti-torture paradigm into state structure.

On the societal level, an atmosphere of intolerance towards torture and distortions in law enforcement process will be a huge task for the civil society organizations and the general community. How many realizes the hypocrisy behind calls for government to serve the people's interests and basic rights made by the same people who take pleasure in seeing pickpocketers being beaten black and blue or those who maintain "those buggers deserve it!".

Media can be a crucial element in creating such atmosphere by changing the discourse in the criminal reality shows they have produced prolifically these past few years. Instead of perpetuating glass-screen violence frenzy, reality shows can pinpoint for the public where the abuses of mandate and power have occurred and then challenge the public to become critical and compassionate in responding to such abuses. Through this, the public will send a powerful signal to the state apparatus that we want certainty of law, not cruelty of law.

The author is a researcher at the Department of Politics and Social Change, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a member of the Anti-Torture Network under the Asian Human Rights Commission. xtine@csis.or.id

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New challenges for Muhammadiyah

Hadjid Harnawidagda Jakarta

Muhammadiyah, which is known as the second biggest Muslim organization in Indonesia, founded in Yogyakarta by the late Kyai Haji Ahmad Dahlan in 1912, will hold its 45th national congress or Muktamar in Malang, East Java, early next month.

The coming Muktamar will be participated by about two thousands five hundred delegates. And yet tends of thousand of non delegates, devout Muhammadiyah members and supporters from near and far places are attracted to come to attend the opening ceremony and the accompanying bazaars, expositions, and public rallies.

It is a historical fact that without proclaiming it self as a nationalist organization Muhammadiyah has pioneered the creation of national awareness. The national organizations founded before the Indonesian independence in 1945, usually concentrated their activities in the island of Java. Muhammadiyah, on the other hand, at the very early stage had strong hold at different places in the outer islands, in West Sumatra, in South Sulawesi, and Alabio and Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan.

Madrasah (Islamic elementary school) Muallimin for the boys and Muallimat for the girls in Yogyakarta attracted students from almost all islands in this archipelago. Through its schools Muhammadiyah introduced a new concept of education by combining Islamic and secular subjects. This strategy brought significant effect in creating a new generation with better balanced education.

Muhammadiyah muktamar (congress) which were held in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra and Makassar in South Sulawesi, in the 1930s proved Muhammadiyah contribution in the making of this nation. In 1928 the national youth organizations declared the well known Youth Pledge which included the adoption of Indonesian language, which was derived from Malay Language spoken by a small Malay ethnic group in Riau and its vicinity as the national language. But Muhammadiyah had used the language long before the declaration of the youth pledge.

Muhammadiyah's rational approaches to religious practices also attract educated young people to associate themselves with this organization and they learned more about Islam. The modernized madrasahs and Islamic general schools ran by Muhammadiyah, together with the Hizbul Wathan Boy scout Movement prepared leaders of this nation from local to national levels.

To give examples of the contribution of Muhammadiyah in Indonesian Nation Building we can mention the late Gen. Soedirman, the first Indonesia Commander in chief of Indonesian Arms forces, was a Muhammadiyah cadre.

The first president of this Republic, former president Sukarno, former president Soeharto, former prime minister Juanda and tens of prominent leaders of this country were associated with Muhammadiyah in some ways or others. Sukarno was officially registered as a member of this organization. when he was a politician in exile in Bengkulu, in the nineteen thirties. So when he gave a speech in the opening ceremony of Muhammadiyah Muktamar in Palembang in 1958, and then in Jakarta in 1962 he gave well remembered statement Sekali Muhammadiyah tetap Muhammadiyah (Once, I joined Muhammadiyah, and I will always be Muhammadiyah member).

In 1995, when Muhammadiyah held its congress in Banda Aceh -- Amien Rais was elected its chairman here -- the then-president Soeharto awed the audience of the Muhammadiyah Muktamar in Banda Aceh with his factual humble and sympathetic statement, that he was also member of Muhammadiyah since he was still young.

When Muhammadiyah was founded about 90 years ago, the challenges were easily identified: To liberate Indonesia from the Dutch colonialism. Muhammadiyah, joining hand in hand with other components of this nation has succeeded to meet the old challenges and preparing the nation to national independence.

In the year of post 2000 Muhammadiyah have to meet new challenges, Muhammadiyah schools and health service institutions need quality improvements to meet the ever growing aspiration of the people. New forms of discriminations are prevailing, moral decadents and materialistic hedonism are beyond descriptions.

Will Muhammadiyah be an affective organization to meet the new challenges or will it be just another group of frustrated grumbler or desperate protesters? Will the coming congress be successful to formulate strategies to meet the new challenges? Millions of Muhammadiyah members and Indonesians people as a whole, are waiting for the result of the congress.

Dr. Hajid Harnawidagda, is a lecturer at the Hidayatullah State Islamic University, and a Muhammadiyah member since childhood. At present he is the chairman of the Muhammadiyah board of elementary and secondary education of Jakarta chapter.

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Reclaim our nation

Minguita Padilla The Philippine Daily Inquirer Asia News Network Manila

I voted for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo not so much because I was convinced she was the best of the lot, but because of fear.

I feared that a vote against her would be a vote for Fernando Poe, Jr. who, at that time, I believed to be the greater evil; not so much because of his person who history has since judged to have been a good man with a noble heart and a sincere desire to serve our country. No. Like many, I feared FPJ because of his inexperience and especially because of the people behind him who had been shown to be opportunists. I voted defensively.

However, it was a defensive vote that carried with it the hope that by giving Arroyo a clear mandate, she would perform as a good president should, with only the best interest of our nation and its people in mind. I did it for love of country.

But the events over the past several months, especially those of the last, have been enough to almost cause me to throw in the towel and declare, like so many of our countrymen, that indeed we are a hopeless nation. It is only the fighter and the dreamer in me that make me hold on.

We are a battered people, battered by administrations that have betrayed our dreams and shot down our hopes since we fought for our freedom in Edsa I. It is a "learned helplessness" that seems to have taken over the majority of our people, now grown cynical and numb in the face of scandal after scandal that has rocked the last two administrations. But we cannot allow anyone to rob us of hope. We do that and we lose everything.

Shocking as they may be, the latest jueteng scandal now being investigated in the Senate as well as the taped phone conversations of the President that allegedly point to her giving instructions to an official of the Commission on Elections to cheat during the last balloting are but the symptoms of a cancer (corruption) that has slowly and insidiously taken over our land and our people.

Should the taped conversation prove to be authentic, the brazen way the instructions for cheating were being given by the President to a Comelec official is again a symptom of how we have become as a nation to corruption. The head of state and an official trusted to safeguard our votes would think nothing of mocking one of the most sacred rights of our people. And even sadder is that very few groups, save those with vested interests, are publicly demanding to get to the bottom of this serious charge.

Could it be because we are still stunned by what we are witnessing? Or could it be that we have sunk to such depths as a nation that we are no longer capable of outrage?

We are at another crossroads and we, citizens of good will who have not yet given up hope, must reclaim our nation. We must complete the unfinished Edsa I revolution that lacked an essential element-the transformation of heart. We do nothing now and we may again see our country held hostage by yet another group of people only too eager to oust the present regime so it can do what it is accusing the present leadership.

We need to be united as a nation during these difficult times. But it cannot be a "unity" that is achieved at the expense of truth and justice; a unity that simply helps to propagate all that is wrong with our present system. If we must be united, let it be in demanding that our leadership set things straight and stop skirting issues by fighting accusations only with counter- accusations. Let us demand that we be given the truth for a change. We have turned a blind eye to wrongdoing long enough and this is where it has led us.

Like most Filipinos, I so desire to see our country get back on track. I wish to see the sanctity of the ballot protected, the dignity of our institutions restored, our Constitution respected, and our nation's soul reclaimed. I am not a destabilizer. I am simply a Filipino who refuses to give up hope. I therefore beg the President to submit these taped telephone conversations for authentication by independent, international agencies.

If the version wherein she is speaking to the Comelec official is proven false, then everybody stands to gain. She would be vindicated and we would perhaps learn how to trust again. However, should it be proven authentic then she would be guilty of an impeachable offense. Should this be the case then she should do what is decent and best for our country. She must step down.

The writer is the founder and president of the Eye Bank, is also president of Sinag, a People's Crusade for Good Governance.