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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Muhammadiyah-leadership
JP/6/Opinion
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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JP/ /
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.