INDONESIA: 10 YEARS AFTER 'REFORMASI'
Former UN human rights chief debates with MEPs
Human rights - 10-06-2008 - 17:38
Human rights need to be at the centre of globalisation - this was the message former UN high Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson brought to parliament on Monday. Promoting her Ethical Globalisation initiative she told Members of the human rights sub-committee that it was important the poorest thought of human rights as a "birthright". Ms Robinson also stressed the need both for accountability and capacity building.
Indonesian freedom elusive for some
Aljazeera.net TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008 5:18 MECCA TIME, 2:18 GMT
Freedom was the rallying call of the mass protests in Indonesia that toppled Suharto from the presidency in 1998.Many of the thousands of political opponents imprisoned under his rule were released after his fall, but 10 years on, people are once again being jailed for expressing their opinions. Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen gets exclusive access to interview a man sentenced a few weeks ago to life in prison for waving a separatist flag. Locked up for life for waving a flag, independence activist Johan Teterissa is Indonesia's latest political prisoner.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5FFDF8F9-6229-42A7-9F7C-D366E7C9E9FA.htm
TNI territorial function to stay despite decade of reform: Sjafrie
2008-05-26 14:01:53 read more
Indonesia needs second edition of Reformation Movement
Antara 2008-05-25 01:03:40
The reform movement which resulted in the ouster of authoritarian President Soeharto after ruling this world largest archipelagic country for 32 years had been facing away, as the political elite in the country failed to implement it thoroughly. Read Continue...
Indonesia's Road Towards Democracy - Ten Years On
Radio Singapore International
May 24, 2008
In Perspective this week with me ? Melanie Yip, a look at Indonesia?s democratic reforms one decade after the late President Suharto?s fall from power. Continue...
Indonesia marks a decade since fall of Suharto
2008-05-24 01:34:35 Listen:
More Indonesia Stories: Ten years ago Indonesia's late President Suharto stepped down after 32 years in power. That provided the backdrop for three days of rioting that left one thousand Indonesians dead and brought the New Order regime to its Continue...
Indonesia searching for direction
The Australian
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta | May 19, 2008
US historian Benedict Anderson, the godfather of modern Indonesian studies, famously banished by Suharto for adroitly questioning the founding myths of the strongman's rule, wrote in a scathing obituary that "cynics joke that there used to be one big Suharto; now there are hundreds of little ones". Read More
Ten years on, Indonesia activists disillusioned
Khaleej Times Online (Reuters) 20 May 2008
JAKARTA - Indonesian student activists dreamed of far reaching political reforms after helping topple the often brutal rule of President Suharto, but ten years on, many feel their hopes have been dashed.Read More
Indonesia's 'reformasi' still a work in progress
The Age May 21, 2008
Mark Forbes
MAY is the month for anniversaries in Indonesia.
Today marks one decade since bloody unrest forced out strongman Suharto and began "reformasi" of a corrupt, feudalistic system. Yesterday was National Awakening Day, on the 100th anniversary of when medical students in Java formed a nationalist organisation that inspired the independence struggle. And last weekend President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono presided over the ninth birthday of racy newspaper Rakyat Merdeka — best known to Australians for caricaturing Alexander Downer and John Howard as dingoes copulating over Papua.
The party for Rakyat Merdeka, one of the aggressive publications that has thrived since the collapse of Suharto's censorship, was on the theme "No Corruption!" Proceedings were irreverent and guests, including ministers, watched nervously for Dr Yudhoyono's reaction to skits skewering current corruption scandals.
Central was the thinly disguised case of a top prosecutor arrested with the equivalent of $A700,000 at a home owned by a businessman who he had just dropped $3 billion fraud charges against. The prosecutor is in custody, but the businessman remains free and the Attorney-General refuses to re-examine his case.
Dr Yudhoyono appeared a little uneasy, but was soon clapping and laughing along.
That such a show could be staged for a president illustrates how far Indonesia has come in a decade of reform, but, taking the stage, Dr Yudhoyono was quick to admit it has a long journey ahead.
It was right to emphasise the "extraordinary challenges" of fighting corruption, he said, adding that "perhaps it needs 15 to 20 years until the system is really clean".
Reviews of "reformasi" are mixed, but high-profile scandals, a failure to charge military elites for abuses and not pursuing the king of the cronies, Suharto himself, masks the extent of Indonesia's political transformation.
Once simply talking about corruption could see you jailed for treason, said political scientist Dewi Anwar. "Now Suharto's son has been jailed, some ministers, some governors and we have an effective anti-corruption commission.
"Ten years ago Indonesia was one of the least liberal countries in the world. Today we have direct presidential, national and regional elections and a free press. The state no longer monopolises power."
Analyst Kevin O'Rourke, who wrote the book Reformasi, believes Indonesia is still transforming from an ingrained system of patronage and fealty. Direct elections make politicians accountable, although judicial and public service corruption remains entrenched.
The head of human rights watchdog Kontras, Usman Hamid, remains disappointed by the failure to prosecute Suharto — believed to have stolen up to $40 billion over three decades in power. "Corruption has become like termites attacking the new foundation of our house," he said. "We have to be grateful for what has been achieved in the last 10 years — the political freedom and human rights — but I guess we need more time to repair what's been damaged for 32 years."
Some of those who braved beatings and bullets on the streets in May 1998 are disillusioned. "The situation today is worse than in 1998: we have more poor people today; more cannot afford to go to school," former student activist Syafiq Alielha said. "The only thing worth praising from reformasi is freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, basically freedom in politics."
Democracy in Indonesia seems here to stay. Although the military remains untouchable for past human rights abuses, it has pulled back from political influence.
And, as O'Rourke observes, Indonesia's presidential elections are milestones in political maturity. In 1999 voters effectively chose a secular state over Islamic hardliners. Dr Yudhoyono campaigned against corruption in 2004. And the poll next year is already shifting to more conventional political territory: economics. Jobs, poverty and prices will dominate debate, as Indonesia's democracy comes of age.
Copyright © 2008. The Age Company Ltd.
Another May tragedy possible
By Frans H Winarta
The Jakarta Post 23-05-2008
It feels like yesterday when in fact it has been 10 years since reform was declared by its leaders Megawati Soekarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid, Amien Rais and Hamengkubuwono IX in Ciganjur, following the fall of Suharto's New Order regime in 1998.
The promises at that time were of a democracy and government unblemished by corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), a professional military without the dual functions of the armed forces, the abolishment of extrajudicial agencies, the abolition of conglomerates, a people-based economy, human rights reverence, freedom of the press and other wishful promises.Read More
Measuring Indonesia’s Good Faith in Human Rights
MyNews.In Tuesday, April 22, 2008 6:27:44 AM
Ch. Narendra
Having been criticized by some leading states in the human rights field such as Canada and the Netherlands during the Universal Periodic Review session, Indonesia’s good faith in human rights clearly needs to be questioned once again. The question that needs to be asked is does Indonesia know the quintessence of human rights?
On April 9th, 2008, Indonesia was reviewed in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session, in Geneva. Indonesia’s report is divided into two parts. The first one provides, as quoted from the International Service for Human Rights (IHRS), “a brief overview of the domestic legislation, policies and institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, emphasizing the pivotal role of its National Action Plan on Human Rights and national human rights institution.
The second part of the report outlines Indonesia’s key national priorities and the challenges it faces in relation to each. The latter section on civil and political rights is comparatively short and emphasises that Indonesia ‘is becoming steadily more united,’ politically stable, and reforming its military and police to ‘guard democracy and the reforms’.”The Community Legal Aid Institute (LBH Masyarakat) is of the view that Indonesia’s government report for the UPR session is a blatant attestation that the bleak human rights condition in the country is business as usual.
The severe human rights violation in West Papua which includes torture, repression of freedom of expression, sexual violence, unfair trials and arbitrary detention , has not been properly addressed by the government. The violence against women and protection of children in addition to the issue of trafficking were not thoroughly comprehended. The fact that children are begging from one car to another in the street is vivid Evidence of the true situation.
Furthermore, the widespread cases of torture which occurred for the last year brought Indonesia plunge into a farcical state of human rights. Ratification of human rights treaties is indeed a positive action. Such ratification, however, is absolutely futile if no corresponding national legislation is enacted to fully implement the international instrument, let alone the enforcement.
The Convention against Torture which was ratified in 1998 is nothing more than a piece of paper due to the fact that no single law exists to enforce the provisions enshrined in such convention. As mentiond, abundant torture cases occurred in the past years yet not a single perpetrator has been convicted under the appropriate laws equal to the gravity of the crime. If it is not impunity, then what is it called?
Indonesia has mentioned in its CAT report in 2001 that the definition of torture would be incorporated in the draft of Indonesian Penal Code, "which will enter into force at the earliest moment possible". However, to-date , such pledge is not likely to be realised any time soon given that no time frame has been set by the government. The Criminal Code, thus, is not a permanent promissory.
In the government’s report submitted to the Working Group, the cooperation with UN special procedures has also been stated. The visits by two UN Special Rapporteurs in 2007, however, prove that there is no such thing as ‘cooperation with UN special procedures’. Hina Jilani, Special Representative on Human Rights Defender, concluded that "She regrets that she did not get the opportunity of a meeting with His Excellency President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono."
The refusal by president of Indonesia, to meet her is very much to be regretted. Additionally, Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, concluded that he "regrets that in a number of instances, his unimpeded access to places of detention was compromised including his ability to carry out private interviews with detainees, in contravention of his Terms of Reference."
The LBH Masyarakat strongly believes that ‘cooperation’ is not just a matter of inviting them to visit the country, but far beyond, it is a mutual relationship in which Indonesia could gain further assistance to improve its human rights predicament; that is, if, Indonesia is sufficiently convinced that there is no human rights violation taking place in their courtyard, which is not correct.
Referring to UK’s recommendation to abolish the death penalty, The LBH Masyarakat deeply regrets that such a good recommendation will not be implemented in the coming years given that Indonesian Constitutional Court’s decision last year ruled that death penalty is not unconstitutional. Such decision clearly has no any human rights vista.
The LBH Masyarakat, therefore, calls upon the Indonesian government to fully respect the value and dignity of human rights, in particular the right to life. The death penalty, indisputably, is a breach of the right to life.
The deterrence effect, which always been one of the main arguments of the retentionist, does not depend on the harshness of the punishment; in fact, it relies on the certainty that any crime will be punished after a fair trial.
In light of the above, Indonesia’s report for the UPR session shows nothing worth mentioning. From such report, the Indonesia people could measure their government’s good faith in promoting and respecting human rights.
So long as the government reckons these issues as business as usual, there will be no substantial enhancement in human rights field. Children will keep begging in the streets. Every one, except the honorary members of the parliament, will be haunted by the practice of torture for the rest of their live.
The Community Legal Aid Institute firmly believes that the government of Indonesia has more obligations to comply with than just succeeding in conducting "peaceful, free and fair national elections in the one of the world’s most populated, multi-ethnic and multi-religious countries" to be proud of.
©2007 www.mynews.in All Rights Reserved.
Amnesty says torture widespread in Indonesia
ABC News Wed Apr 16, 2008
Torture and other human rights abuses are still widespread in Indonesia 10 years after the fall of dictator Suharto, Amnesty International says.
Though the government ratified the UN Convention Against Torture and instituted key legal reforms after Suharto's demise, Amnesty receives reports of abuse "on a regular basis," according to a briefing paper by the rights group.
"As of early 2008, old and new national laws continue to offer inadequate safeguards to deter the use of torture and ill-treatment in all circumstances," the report says."Amnesty International receives on a regular basis reports indicating that state agents have been committing torture and other ill-treatment during arrests, interrogation and detention, sometimes leading to deaths.
"This context of widespread use of torture and other ill-treatment is aggravated and supported by a pattern of impunity throughout the country, which can be perceived by perpetrators as giving them license to continue violating human rights."
The Amnesty report has been put together ahead of the United Nations Committee Against Torture's review of Indonesia's progress in eradicating torture in May.
Indonesia is widely considered to have made significant democratic progress since the end of Suharto's oppressive 32-year rule, which ended in 1998.
However, the country's military, police and justice system have come under criticism for continued corruption and disregard for basic human rights.
Last November, visiting UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, said beatings and other forms of torture were entrenched in much of Indonesia's prison system.
AFP© 2008 ABC Privacy Policy
Former President of Indonesia, Abdurahman Wahid alias Gus Dur:
Antara 28 April 2008
Indonesia should not be built on the basis of lies and disloyalty, because such attitude had already caused Indonesia to plunge into a protrated crisis especially in the people`s confidence in the goverment.
Torture 'unpunished in Indonesia'
BBC 2007/11/23 12:24:50 GMT
The police are rarely punished for the abuse, Mr Nowak says
Indonesia has a "culture of impunity" in the face of ill-treatment and torture, a senior UN official has said.
Manfred Nowak, special rapporteur on torture, has spent two weeks inspecting the country's prisons and police and military detention centres.
Mr Nowak said he found evidence of detainees being electrocuted, suffering systematic beatings and even being shot in the legs at close range.
He called on the government to make torture a separate crime under the law.
The BBC's Lucy Williamson, in Jakarta, says Indonesia has regularly come under scrutiny for its human rights record. Mr Nowak's visit is the third by a UN human rights monitor this year.
Safeguards call
He conceded that treatment of detainees had improved since authoritarian dictator Suharto's regime came to an end in 1998.
But the envoy said abuse had continued, and the police appeared to be the main culprits.
Mr Nowak toured several regions of the country.
"The problem of police abuse appears to be sufficiently widespread as to warrant immediate attention," he said.
The level of abuse varied widely between institutions, depending on the personal behaviour of those in charge, he said.
In some places there were no reported cases of abuse, in others he said torture was systematic, with detainees regularly suffering beatings.
"In all the meetings with government officials nobody could cite one case in which a police officer was ever found guilty and sentenced by a criminal court for ill-treatment or other abuse of a detainee," he said.
He called on the Indonesian government to strengthen the legal safeguards against torture.
He said there should be a separate offence of torture, a reduction in the time people spend in police custody and an independent complaints system.
Mr Nowak, who will deliver a full report to the UN Human Rights Council, visited institutions in Jakarta, Papua, South Sulawesi, Bali and Yogyakarta.
© BBC MMVII
Indonesia must stand up against torture and other ill-treatment
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENTAI Index: ASA 21/005/2008 (Public)
Date: 02 May 2008
Between 5 and 7 May 2008, the UN Committee against Torture will meet in Geneva to discuss Indonesia's compliance with provisions set out in the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (or the Convention). Amnesty International welcomes this opportunity and hopes it will lead to a major commitment by the Indonesian government to ban torture and ill-treatment in all its forms in Indonesia.
In a briefing released on 15 April 2008, "Indonesia: Briefing to the UN Committee against Torture" (AI Index: ASA 21/003/2008), Amnesty International provided information and analysis on the implementation by Indonesia of the Convention, and set out ways in which the Indonesian government could better comply with its obligations under the Convention. A number of aspects are highlighted in the briefing including insufficient provisions prohibiting acts of torture in the Criminal Code; insufficient safeguards in the Criminal Procedure Code; the absence of specific legal provisions prohibiting 'non-refoulement'; torture and other ill-treatment in detention; the death penalty and caning; weak accountability mechanisms; and the inadequate implementation of the Domestic Violence Law.
Amnesty International acknowledges Indonesia's progress in certain aspects of tackling the problem of torture and ill-treatment in past years, for instance through legal reform, human rights trainings to police and military officials, and efforts to strengthen accountability mechanisms. However, the organization believes thatthose measures have been far from sufficient.
The absence of strong legal and procedural safeguards preventing the use of torture in all circumstances is one of the weaknesses in the system. Although Indonesia's Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code have been under revision for many years, they have yet to include sufficient provisions prohibiting the use of torture. The Criminal Code does not have a comprehensive definition of torture, and lacks provisions making these offences punishable by appropriate penalties that take into account their grave nature. Further, the Criminal Procedure Code contains provisions allowing prolonged detention of suspects without being brought before a judge and insufficient safeguards prohibiting the use of statements that have been made as a result of torture as evidence during judicial proceedings. The result has been that torture and other ill-treatment are still widespread in Indonesia.
Read More
Indonesia: No military reform since Suharto, experts say
ADN Kronos International 13 May 2008
Jakarta, 13 May (AKI) - A decade after the student-led 'Reformasi' movement toppled the Suharto regime, the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) have undergone reforms, but they have not been enforced, according to experts.
Suharto stepped down in May 1998 after days of protests and widespread riots sparked by the Asian financial crisis.
During his 32-year regime, the military occupied a central role in the country’s social and political affairs and was used as a tool to perpetuate his power.
Among the reforms, is the introduction of a new policy guideline that withdrew its support from Golkar, the ruling party during the Suharto era and the separation of the military from the police.
Indria Samego, security expert at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, noted that the reforms have drastically reduced the institutional power of the military, but people had not yet adjusted to the change."Liberal changes within the institutions are already underway, but people need to change too. Things don’t stop at regulations; implementation needs process and time," said Samego in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
"In the future there are still some rules which need to be revised," he added.
Under democratic reforms also approved in 1999, the military and the police lost their 38 appointed representatives in both the parliament and the people's consultative assembly, the highest consultative body in the country, in 2004.These changes were confirmed when a new national defence law was enacted in 2002, and the long-awaited TNI law, enacted in 2004 calling for all the TNI-ran businesses to be handed over to the state by 2009.
The businesses were once estimated at a value of 966.18 million dollars, providing about 70 percent of the TNI's annual budget.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently established a team to take over these businesses, while the government is also trying to raise the annual defence budget.
According to most analysts, lawmakers now need to proceed with reform of the territorial command structure, which has more than 200,000 army personnel under twelve territorial commands from Aceh to Papua.The territorial command structure was the basis of the military's domination of Indonesian society and politics under the Suharto regime and it is still seen as the main tool for the TNI to influence local politicians and businesspeople."If Indonesia wants to truly reach civilian supremacy over the TNI, then the presence of military is not required in villages," said George Aditjondro, a socialist and expert on Indonesia’s conflict areas.
He said the territorial command structure precludes a real civilian supremacy over the TNI.
"TNI is still present in places where big investments exist and we can still see a link between investment and military interests," he told AKI.
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U.N. body says torture widespread in Indonesia
Reuters Fri May 16, 2008 12:00pm EDT
By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA, May 16 (Reuters) - Indonesia's police, armed forces and intelligence services routinely torture and degrade criminal suspects to extract confessions, with almost total impunity for those responsible, a United Nations rights body said on Friday.
The U.N. Committee Against Torture said it was "deeply concerned about numerous ongoing credible and consistent allegations" of abuse in the Indonesian justice system.
Military officials and "morality police" were also found to use disproportionate force and violence, particularly against women, in the Aceh province and other areas of conflict, the 10-member independent panel said in a report released in Geneva.
It cited "grave concerns over the climate of impunity for perpetrators of acts of torture, including military, police and other state officials, particularly those holding senior position."
"No state official alleged to have perpetrated torture has been found guilty," the committee said in its 14-page findings, which are not legally binding but carry diplomatic weight.
The report expounded upon the concerns raised in November by U.N. torture expert Manfred Nowak, who said torture of detainees in Indonesian police custody was rife despite efforts to combat rights abuses after the ouster of autocratic president Suharto.
SAFEGUARDS
The U.N. panel called on Jakarta to take immediate steps to uphold legal safeguards for those taken into custody, including ensuring all detained suspects get the right to access a lawyer, notify a relative, be informed of the charges laid against them and be brought before a judge in a timely manner.
It told Indonesia to "ensure that all allegations of torture and ill-treatment are promptly, effectively and impartially investigated and that the perpetrators are prosecuted and convicted in accordance with the gravity of these acts.
The committee added state officials should publicly announce a zero-tolerance policy for perpetrators of acts of torture and support prosecution.Particular concern was raised about "morality police" in Aceh -- riven by separatist violence for decades before a peace pact in 2005 -- which the panel said had an undefined jurisdiction and unclear supervision by public or state institutions.
"The necessary legal fundamental safeguards do not exist for persons detained by such officials, including the absence of a right to legal counsel, the apparent presumption of guilt, the execution of punishment in public, and the use of physically abusive methods (flogging, caning, etc)," it said.
"The punishments meted out by this policing body have a disproportionate impact on women," the committee added, also raising alarm over a high incidence of rape and sexual violence committed by the military in conflict areas, and sexual abuse and forced labour against female migrant workers in the country.
The U.N. panel stressed that attacks on ethnic and religious minorities remained a problem in Indonesia, a former Dutch colony that is home to the world's largest Muslim population.
It further called on Jakarta to fully cooperate with international efforts to investigate, prosecute and extradite those responsible for abuses in East Timor, a former Indonesian territory that became independent in 2002. (Editing by Stephanie Nebehay and Janet Lawrence)
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved
Indonesia Loses a Human Rights Voice
AsiaSentinel.com 18 May 2008
Internecine warfare in the courts results in a civil rights leader’s disbarment
Todung Mulya Lubis, Indonesia’s most prominent human-rights voice, Friday was disbarred from practicing law by the Jakarta Regional Honor Board after another prominent lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, filed a complaint against him for an ethics violation.
In a telephone interview with Asia Sentinel, Mulya Lubis called the decision "totally baseless and unlawful" and said he has little hope of winning an appeal. Read More
Indonesia searching for direction
The Australian
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta | May 19, 2008
US historian Benedict Anderson, the godfather of modern Indonesian studies, famously banished by Suharto for adroitly questioning the founding myths of the strongman's rule, wrote in a scathing obituary that "cynics joke that there used to be one big Suharto; now there are hundreds of little ones". Read More
Ten years on, Indonesia activists disillusioned
Khaleej Times Online (Reuters)
20 May 2008
JAKARTA - Indonesian student activists dreamed of far reaching political reforms after helping topple the often brutal rule of President Suharto, but ten years on, many feel their hopes have been dashed.Read More
There is Still Military in the Forest
27 June 2007
Security forces have become one of the parties profiting from various national forestry policies. The military/police have played an important role in consolidating and attempting to maintain New Order power, as well as their business interests, resulting in a conflict of interest in the enforcement of laws passed to regulate industry.read more
Indonesian military to relinquish business interests
Updated