The quiet revolution in Indonesia's human rights

The quiet revolution in Indonesia's human rights

Jonny Sinaga, Jakarta

Some time this year Indonesia will be categorized as a new
party to the very important agreements on human rights, after the
House of Representatives (DPR) endorsed two draft laws at the end
of September on the accession of Indonesia to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. By UN
standards, this development is very important. One of the most
important provisions of the covenants is the guarantee of press
freedom.

But aside from this new development, how should we see
objectively the situation or development of human rights in this
country and are we going in the right direction?

In a seminar on Strengthening human rights in Indonesia in
Geneva on April 5, 2005 conducted by the Frederich Ebert
institute, one of the speakers, the outspoken Ravi Nair from
India, mentioned tremendous developments in the field of human
rights in Indonesia over the last few years. He cited two
examples that cannot be undermined, such as the successful
separation of the Indonesian Police (Polri) from the Indonesian
Military (TNI) and the transfer of the long-criticized
administrative judicial authority from the Ministry of Justice to
the Supreme Court.

This is interesting. While outsiders, including international
NGOs, can see progress in Indonesia, the local NGOs seem to still
have difficulties seeing the positive developments. In the same
Geneva seminar, one of the speakers representing a human rights
watch group in Indonesia spoke almost in contradiction of Ravi
Nair.

According to the domestic NGO representative, there is no good
in Indonesia that come out of a genuine initiative; everything
must be the result of pressure from outside the country. That is
why he suggested that the international community continue its
pressure on Indonesia so that progress can be made in the future.

Actually both deserve some consideration. The progress in
human rights in Indonesia since the era of reformasi is quite
significant, and there is no doubt that violations of human
rights, especially during the 32 years of New Order regime, when
power was used as the only tool to overcome all social problems.

Indonesia must change its whole way approaching these things
and must be willing to learn lessons from past mistakes. The
recognition of outsiders must be used as an opportunity to
continue the right policy while criticism should be used as a
tool to accelerate the developments and prevent any actions that
can be deemed as human rights violations.

If we take a look at the human rights history in Indonesia,
the issue of human rights should not have been foreign to the
country. Indonesia was born out of human rights struggles for
more than 350 years against colonizers.

However, there was time in Indonesia when even talking about
human rights was unpopular. Until 1993, when the international
community gathered in Vienna to discuss ways to promote and
protect human rights, the discussions of human rights in
Indonesia were still very rare. Many people were still fearful of
discussing human rights. After Soeharto's fall in 1998, the
situation then much improved.

As a result of the reform movement, the efforts on the
promotion and protection of human rights in Indonesia were no
longer just rhetorical. The national plan of action on human
rights contained some concrete initiatives and policies related
to human rights. It was implemented over a five-year period from
1998. That was why there was no doubt for the government to
introduce the new plan of action for another five years covering
2004-2009 contains, inter alia, the accession to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

However, the right track that the government has been
following is not without preconditions and the government shall
not take it for granted. It can be twisted, or even marred, by
unnecessary actions that reflect on the lack of understanding of
human rights.

In terms of freedom of religion, which is also guaranteed by
the above covenants, inaccurate or belated actions by the
government officials to prevent any actions by the society with
regard to "any religious groups" or the existence of worship
buildings can be a setback for the government's achievements in
the field of human rights.

The trend to use a criminal justice system approach when
people disagree with the content of published news can also be
categorized as being in contravention of human rights in
Indonesia, which can be another prospective contravention of
those covenants.

The unfortunate death of a prominent human rights defender is
certainly also a setback for Indonesia's human rights
achievement. It is another slap in the face for Indonesia's human
rights proponents in the international forum. The mishandling of
minority groups is also another issue that needs to be properly
tackled by the government if it wants to be considered successful
in this regard.

By all of these things, it can be concluded that the
commitment from this government is there and it is on the right
track already. The only thing that needs to be taken into serious
consideration by all of us (government, business and society) are
our sincerity and willingness to have a human rights friendly
Indonesia, not the opposite.

The writer is working at the Department of Foreign Affairs and
the views expressed are strictly personal.