U.S. questions RI's will to prosecute rights cases

U.S. questions RI's will to prosecute rights cases

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United States has expressed concern over Indonesia's apparent
lack of will to prosecute military personnel implicated in past
human rights abuses, saying it would hamper the democracy that
has flourished in the country since 1998.

U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce told a seminar
here on Tuesday that the failure of the military to take
responsibility for human rights violations in East Timor, Aceh,
Papua and the May 1998 riots in Jakarta was one of the major
challenges of democracy in the world's fifth most populous
country.

"I believe this (military accountability) is a must not only
to build trust in the Indonesian Military, but to boost
international confidence in democracy in Indonesia," Boyce told
participants of the seminar titled "Indonesia heading to Genuine
Democracy: Opportunities and Challenges."

The ad hoc Human Rights Court has sentenced three military
officers to between three and six years in jail without immediate
imprisonment for their involvement in the East Timor mayhem in
1999. The court, however, has acquitted 13 others due to lack of
evidence.

The court also failed to touch former Indonesian Military
(TNI) chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto, who was in charge of security
when the violence took place.

Washington imposed an arms embargo on Indonesia following the
widespread atrocities that followed an overwhelming vote for
independence in the former Indonesian province.

Boyce said that in a democratic country, the military must be
held responsible for all of its actions.

Regarding civilian control over the military, Boyce praised
Indonesia for ending the military's role in politics as
stipulated by the People's Consultative Assembly last year.

Law enforcement is the next challenge that faces democracy in
Indonesia, according to Boyce, who said the country must create a
transparent system of law to ensure that people get justice and
that their rights are well-protected.

A clean government and good enforcement of law could assure
the unity of Indonesia, and it could also attract foreign
investors to Indonesia.

"Currently, foreign investors shy away from Indonesia because
they are afraid that their contracts will not be honored by the
Indonesian courts," said Boyce.

Protection of minority groups is the third major challenge
Indonesia is facing in promoting democracy.

Boyce said that minority groups, whether in ethnicity or
religion, had suffered from violence in Maluku, Sulawesi and
Kalimantan, where ethnic and sectarian conflicts claimed
thousands of lives a few years ago.

"Democracy has often been coined as 'power by the majority',
but the biggest challenge for democracy is actually that, whether
the democracy can protect the rights of the minority," said
Boyce.

Speaking at the seminar, a political observer from Boston
University, Robert Hefner, warned that sectarian politics had
returned to the political scene. Such a trend, he said, would
cause democracy to collapse if it was not carefully managed.

He said the reform movement in 1998 had helped encourage
participation in politics.

It was a good thing, he said. But, unfortunately, the rising
passion to participate in politics had been abused by certain
political figures for their own purposes.

Hefner said that some political figures mobilized the grass
roots by exploiting biases, which could damage the process of
democracy.

Sectarian conflicts in Maluku and Sulawesi were clear examples
of how irresponsible political figures had exploiting biases that
polarized people.

People are divided across religious lines by such
irresponsible figures, and they fan the flames of dichotomy,
which leads to escalating conflicts in the regions, he said.

Hefner said that society should seek a common platform in
order to curb the potential evil of the trend.

This could be achieved through the establishment of
interreligious fora, for instance, where different people of
different faiths could discuss differences between them and find
the "glue" that could keep them together.