The story of human rights in RI

The story of human rights in RI

By Cornelis A. Boeky

JAKARTA (JP): The forefathers of independent Indonesia were
mostly lawyers graduated from the well-known Dutch university of
Leiden. Their training in Holland helped form their knowledge and
awareness of basic and universal human rights. Their educational
background is clearly reflected in the constitutions Indonesia
has had since independence.

Since independence, Indonesians have known three constitutions
formulated by these forefathers.

* The Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 (The 1945 Constitution).

* The Konstitusi RIS 1950 (the 1950 Constitution of the Republic
of the United States of Indonesia).

* The Undang-Undang Dasar Sementara R.I. 1950 (the Provisional
Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1950).

Several days after first president Sukarno and vice president
Mohammad Hatta declared the independence of Indonesia, the 1945
Constitution took effect. This constitution was very brief in
nature, due to time constraints. No provisions which dealt in
detail with human rights can be found in this constitution.

The new independent country was a unitary state consisting of
big and small islands which were formerly under Dutch rule and
known as the Dutch East Indies. Portuguese Timor, which is now
East Timor, part of the Borneo island -- East Malaysia and Brunei
Darusalam -- and the eastern half of New Guinea were political
entities which belonged to other European colonial powers.

The Dutch, however, did not recognize the new republic
proclaimed by Sukarno and Hatta. The Dutch had their own plan to
transfer sovereignty to the Indonesian people. The Dutch plan was
materialized in December 1949. Unlike the first proclaimed
republic, the new independent country transferred by the Dutch to
the Indonesian people was a federal republic with its own
constitution, called the Konstitusi RIS 1950.

With the emergence of the free state, the United States of the
Indonesian Republic (Republik Indonesia Serikat -- RIS), the
republic proclaimed by Sukarno and Hatta and the 1945
Constitution was dissolved. Sukarno became the president and
Hatta the vice president of the United States of Indonesia.

Konstitusi RIS 1950 was more comprehensive than the Undang-
Undang Dasar 1945 and dealt in detail with basic and universal
human rights.

Chapter V, Article 7 through Article 33, for example, dealt in
detail with human rights. Chapter VI, Article 34 through Article
41 dealt with good governance and democracy.

Another landmark difference of this constitution was that it
contained an article which gave the impression that this
constitution was temporary. It required that the government and a
legislative council (Konstituante) should work as soon as
possible to draft a permanent constitution to replace it.

The federal republic did not last long because it was not the
main goal of the Indonesia people. The main objective of Sukarno
and Hatta, who had strong influence over the people, was a
unitary state. So, the federal republic was dissolved without
drafting a new and permanent constitution.

The forefathers were very wise when they agreed to the Dutch
plan to transfer the sovereignty as a federal republic. The main
objective was to ensure that sovereignty was in the hands of
Indonesians.

Once sovereignty was in the hands of Indonesians and the Dutch
went home, Indonesians would be free to do anything with the
newfound independence.

So it went, leaders from all parts of the country convened and
reached a consensus to return to a unitary state. The
reincarnated unitary state had its own constitution, Undang-
Undang Dasar Sementara RI 1950, which seemed to be more a copy of
the Konstitusi RIS, particularly with regard to human rights
provisions.

This new constitution also dictated that the government and
Konstituante should work as soon as possible to draft a new and
permanent constitution to replace this temporary constitution. As
a result of a general election in 1955, a Konstituante was
formed.

However, because of the ideological differences between the
representatives, especially when they came to question the true
state principles (Pancasila or not Pancasila), the Konstituante
did not succeed in drafting and adopting a new and permanent
constitution.

The ideological conflicts among factions within the
Konstituante nearly caused the country to fall a part. Outside
the Konstituante building, local rebels became more and more
intense which endangered the political and socioeconomic
condition of the young country. The Konstitutiante was finally
dissolved by Sukarno with the support of the Army. Sukarno also
declared that the country would return to the 1945 Constitution
despite its limitation as compared to the other two constitutions
aforementioned.

Thus, universal democracy and human rights have not been
foreign to Indonesians, before or after independence. The fact
was that during the middle and last parts of the Sukarno regime,
a result of Cold War rivalries, and the whole period of former
president Soeharto's government (as part of his efforts to
maintain power), there were efforts to take the people away from
the awareness of democratic principles and basic and universal
human rights with the true meaning of the words.

In order to maintain their power, the administrations created
a new brand of principles or quasi principles with a local brand
such as Sukarno's guided democracy and Soeharto's Pancasila
democracy.

Human rights must be a la Indonesia. These new brands of
democracy must be different from the one universally recognized.

Sukarno as well as Soeharto wanted the people to believe that
their new brand of democracy and human rights were the best in
the world. They wanted the people to believe and do without
further questions.

During Sukarno's time, for instance, people had to take what
was called the kursus indoktrinasi (indoctrination courses),
while during the Soeharto rule, they had to follow the Penataran
P4 or briefings on Pancasila teachings and ideology.

In schools and universities, students had to recite the
Pancasila teachings, but they did not understand their meaning or
their implications on real life. While people were made to
believe that the participants of the indoctrination courses had
been "born again" and were free from any wrongdoing, corruption
and abuse of power took place and kept on increasing day after
day. Arrests, kidnapping and detention of political opponents
without trial were normal in this Pancasila country. Although
recognized by the constitution, freedoms of religion and of
expression are luxuries.

Now is the time to return to the true principles of democracy,
government by the people for the people and respect of human
rights principles -- freedom of want, freedom of religion,
freedom of expression and other freedoms with which God endows
His creatures.

But there are no freedoms without limitations. The limitations
are to secure the freedom itself.