War against terrorism deals a blow to rights campaign

War against terrorism deals a blow to rights campaign

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Observers have said the U.S.-led war against terrorism had caused
a setback in the promotion of human rights, which was
demonstrated in the continuing impunity among security officers
charged with atrocities in East Timor.

Rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis said on Monday that a
number of countries that had initially talked tough on crime
against humanity in East Timor three years ago had failed to put
pressure on Indonesia to continue upholding human rights, after
the war against terrorism became the common concern among the
world's nations.

"The war against terrorism as the current hottest issue is
prone to the violation of one's rights, including in Indonesia.
The antiterrorism campaign has paved the way for the omnipresence
of intelligence bodies, which reach the regional level.

"These, of course, will hurt people's freedom as their basic
right," Todung told The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, Hikmahanto Juwono, a senior lecturer at the
University of Indonesia, warned the Indonesian Military (TNI) to
restrain itself from supporting foreign countries' antiterrorism
policies at the expense of human rights.

"Once they finish with the human rights issue, they (foreign
countries) will just leave us on our own to face worldwide
condemnation," he said.

Hikmahanto was referring to the U.S., which had initially
supported the TNI to annex the former country's province of East
Timor in 1976.

Later on, the administration of former president Bill Clinton
made human rights issues a top priority, bringing about various
consequences, including international pressure for the
establishment of the Human Rights Tribunal in Indonesia as well
as the trial against security officers charged with perpetrating
gross human rights violations in the former Indonesian province.

"Now we can see that upholding human rights was not the main
goal of the U.S.. Human rights was just a political toy for
certain governments (in the U.S.)," Hikmahanto said.

On Friday, the ad hoc human rights tribunal acquitted four
military and police officers being tried for crimes against
humanity, bringing the number of officers found not guilty in the
case to nine.

So far only two civilians of East Timorese origin -- former
East Timor governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares and former militia
leader Eurico Guterres -- were found guilty of human rights
violations in East Timor.

So far, the U.S., Australia and other human rights campaigners
have been apathetic in their responses to the verdict.

In the wake of the war against terrorism, the U.S. had planned
to restore the International Military Education and Training
(IMET) program for TNI officers, which had been suspended
following a series of rights violations blamed on the military in
East Timor.

Many believe that the U.S. insists on reviving military ties
with Indonesia at any cost, including the neglect of human rights
issues on the grounds that "it needs local military partners to
fight terrorism".

Rights activist Daniel Panjaitan of the Legal Aid Institute
(LBH) who is in charge of monitoring the human rights trial, said
that the recent human rights court's verdict would set a bad
precedent for other rights cases in the country, which include
the Tanjung Priok bloodshed in 1984.

"The Americans apparently realize that only TNI has the
ability to assist them in combating terrorism. It is also
supported by a government regulation in lieu of law on
antiterrorism issued in October, which is prone to rights abuse.

"This has reopened the way for the military to be involved in
the investigation process, which originally came under the
police's auspices," Daniel said.