YLBHI parties meet to solve leadership rift

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)