YLBHI parties meet to solve leadership rift

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) activists from all over the country began their three-day meeting yesterday which will attempt to end the organization's leadership rift.

Mulyana W. Kusumah, one of the incumbent leadership's critics, said the so-called "national dialog" was lively, with participants maintaining high spirits as they tried to resolve the problem.

He said he is hopeful that the dialog will conclude with recommendations on how to end the leadership conflict once and for all.

"Whatever it decides will be legally binding, because all parties involved in the conflict are represented," said Mulyana, who is also secretary-general of the Independent Poll Monitoring Committee.

The dialog, lead by rights activist T. Mulya Lubis, was attended by all members of the board of trustees, the executive board and directors of the foundation's branches from all the provinces except Bali.

Dubbed as one of the country's prime movers of democracy, the foundation has been virtually crippled by a long-standing internal conflict that deteriorated in March during the election of a new chairman.

In the same month, a group of senior foundation members moved to stake a claim on its leadership through the establishment of a federation, despite threats of punishment by its board of trustees.

Bambang Widjojanto, elected in March as the new chairman in place of staunch human rights campaigner Adnan Buyung Nasution, has also formed his new executive board.

His foes, however, considered his executive board "legally defective" because it was formed through an undemocratic process.

Bambang, a 1993 recipient of the Robert Kennedy human rights award for his work to protect indigenous people's rights in Irian Jaya, has repeatedly asserted he will solve the conflict at the negotiating table.

"Until today, YLBHI activists were still debating the legality of such reconciliatory talks," Bambang told journalists.

High on the agenda of the ongoing "national dialog" is to review the foundation's disputed electoral procedure.

Bambang has also asserted he has no objection to repeating the March electoral process if the board of trustees -- the foundation's highest decision-making body -- so decides.

Adnan Buyung Nasution, probably the most respected member of the board of trustees, said he means to become a good listener now, because he used to be "too dominant" in the foundation's decision-making process.

He said the conflict dragged on largely because some activists did not want to lose their seats on the board of executives, despite their terms of office being over.

"The dispute would not have occurred had everyone implemented the rules of the game. Executives should transfer their power when their terms of office are over and they are not reelected," he said.

Frans Hendra Winarta, another board of trustees member, said that as a foundation, YLBHI is not entirely under the government's control and therefore can play its role as a pressure group.

He lamented the fact that the internal conflict has reduced its capability to play that role, however. (16)