Introduction
During the year 2002 a number of positive developments have taken place in Indonesia. Some key aspects of these are that agreements to resolve conflicts in Aceh, the Moluccas and Poso/Sulawesi have been signed, that the military and police have announced that they will relinquish their seats in Parliament and that Constitutional amendments codify some changes concerning Indonesia's political system.
As is well known, Indonesia has fallen victim to a severe terrorist attack, which resulted in a huge loss of life - official figures speak of 202 identified dead - and had devastating consequences, especially for the population of Bali. Since the attacks, radical Islam in Indonesia has increasingly been a focus of attention of the international community. This confronts Indonesia with the problem of drawing a clear line between political Islam and political violence legitimised by way of invoking the religion of the majority of the population. A hasty reaction of the Government has been the issuance of anti-terrorism legislation. This, however, contains provisions of which is feared that their application might reverse some of the achievements of Indonesia's tentative democratisation process.
While acknowledging the positive developments in Indonesia and conceding
that the country is in a difficult situation, it needs to be noted that
the overall human rights situation in Indonesia during the reporting period
has, unfortunately, not improved as compared to the previous year: An increase
of military/police presence and of human rights abuses can be seen in regions
with independence movements like Aceh and Papua. And perpetrators of human
rights violations, both past and present ones, to a large extent still
enjoy impunity, a fact that works to the detriment of, amongst others,
the mentioned initiatives to resolve conflicts.
Impunity
Under domestic and international pressure, in late 2000 Indonesia enacted the Law on Human Rights Courts which is the legal basis for the ongoing trials before Ad Hoc Human Rights Courts concerning gross violation of human rights committed in East Timor in 1999. Most verdicts have now been handed down and have, like the entire trial proceedings, provoked vociferous protest: Only against 18 suspects have charges been brought, many other high ranking suspects have not been indicted at all. Ten of the fourteen defendants who have been handed down a verdict so far have been acquitted. Four have been sentenced to minimum and sub-minimum jail terms: Former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres has been sentenced to the minimum sentence of ten years imprisonment. Sub-minimum penalties have been handed down to the former Governor of East Timor, Abilio José Soares, the Indonesian former Chief of Dili military sub-district, Lt. Col. Soedjarwo, and to the former Chief of Dili Police, Lt. Col. Hulman Gultom, who have been sentenced to three, five and three years imprisonment respectively.
Thus basically impunity prevails. Apart from the sentences, the entire criminal proceedings displayed numerous flaws. The most severe were the absence of key witnesses, an insufficient witness protection program, the very late introduction of video-conferencing technology to present witnesses, the fact that no official documents, which might have unveiled the chain of command were included in the trials and the general failure to perceive the seriousness of crimes against humanity. The trials thus failed to reveal the role of the military in organising the violence. The flawed judicial proceedings displayed in the trials as well as the verdicts that to the largest part continue the tradition of impunity do not bode well for further attempts to bring perpetrators of past gross human rights violations in Indonesia to justice.
The GoI and the Indonesian Parliament have furthermore shown great reluctance
to take steps to initiate proper legal proceedings with regard to other
gross human rights violations. One problem concerning gross human rights
violations perpetrated before the enactment of the Human Rights Courts
Law is, that although there is no general time limit on the applicability
of the Law included in the Law itself, Parliament has retained for itself
the - legally codified - right to decide on a case by case basis whether
past incidents are to be considered gross violations of human rights and
to be prosecuted as such - or not.
Military
The announcement of the Indonesian military and police in August 2002 to relinquish their seats in the two Chambers of Parliament is certainly a positive step. It should, however, not be (mis)read as the military's withdrawal from politics and its self-limitation to the task of national defence. The army entertains a so-called territorial command structure, which is a military structure parallel to the nominally non-military administrative structure reaching from national down to village level. The creation of new regional commands in the Moluccas and recently also in Aceh shows that rather than dismantling the territorial command structure, as has continuously been called for, an expansion of the latter is taking place.
The Indonesian military is furthermore still deeply entrenched in business. As only an estimated 30% of the military's expenditures are covered by the official state budget, other means for generating income are sought by the generals. Involvement in illegal activities notwithstanding, enterprises run by the military are an important source of revenue. The military's insistence on upholding the territorial command structure must also be seen in this light: This structure is of vital interest for the military also for financial reasons as, firstly, it can obtain resources from regional budgets, and, secondly, the army's overall presence enables it to engage in other 'protection' activities, e.g. for transnational corporations.
The increasing strength of the Indonesian military also shows elsewhere:
The separation of military and police as had been introduced after the
fall of Suharto has increasingly been weakened in the aftermath of 9/11
and the Bali attacks, with military agencies 'supporting' the police in
the hunt for terrorists. In this respect, the mentioned expansion of the
territorial structure can also be viewed as strengthening the position
of the military vis-á-vis the police.
Lack of legal and judicial reform
The Constitutional Amendment of 2001 enshrines in the Indonesian Basic Law that Indonesia is a Constitutional state under the rule of law and that the judicial authority is an independent one. However, since then neither of the provisions has been supported by implementing legislation. And the lack of judicial independence in Indonesia goes hand in glove with the notoriously high degree of corruption. When the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Param Cumaraswamy, visited Indonesia in July he criticised that corruption in the country was endemic. Apart from corruption, also the exertion of political pressure is a problem of the Indonesian judicial system. There is strong suspicion that in several cases law enforcement officials and members of the judicial system have been under threat, at times even fearing for their lives.
Concerning the ratification of international human rights instruments Indonesia has (again) fallen short of its own time schedule for accession as outlined in the 1998 Human Rights Action Plan. Furthermore, Indonesia has so far only insufficiently brought domestic legislation into accordance with ratified international instruments.
Legal and political developments in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Bali are cause for great concern: The Anti-Terrorism Decree that had promptly been issued by the GoI after the attacks is reportedly in essence the previously debated controversial Draft Law on Terrorism, which could not be agreed upon in Parliament. Numerous of its provisions deviate from or are contrary to stipulations in Indonesia's Code of Criminal Procedure and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, accession of which is, according to the Human Rights Action Plan, envisaged by Indonesia for 2003. The most worrisome provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Decree are those that empower investigators to arrest terrorist suspects on the basis of initial evidence taken from intelligence reports and detain them for up to six months. Furthermore, the very definition of 'terrorist' is cause for concern as it is extremely broad and thus open to abuse. Indonesia needs an Anti-Terrorism Law, which abides by the principles of rule of law and is not detrimental to other provisions in Indonesian legislation, which are (relatively) in accordance with international standards concerning criminal procedure.
Human Rights Defenders
In 2002, human rights defenders throughout Indonesia have been subject
to violations of their rights, to harassment, physical attacks and even
to death threats. Some were also forced to seek safety abroad. In Jakarta,
the office of the human rights organisation Kontras was severely
attacked by hooligans, who are suspected of being connected to high military
officers. Kontras staff was injured, the office equipment destroyed,
files were stolen. In addition, Kontras was repeatedly threatened
because of its involvement in investigating past human rights violations.
In another incident, during a demonstration for the poor in Jakarta, fifteen
people affiliated to the Urban Poor Consortium were attacked and
severely injured. In Papua, human rights defenders were kept under surveillance,
threatened and in some cases also physically attacked. The Institute for
Human Rights Study and Advocacy ELSHAM in Jayapura has suffered from continuous
persecution: With regard to its investigation activity the organisation's
supervisor was threatened with defamation charges; relatives of the director
of ELSHAM fell victim to a bomb attack on their car which left them injured;
another ELSHAM volunteer was a victim of a motorcycle attack; ELSHAM's
Jakarta office was ransacked, its co-ordinator left the capital and the
office was closed due to the insecure situation. Also in Aceh activists
have been subject to harassment and have lived under continuous threat.
Women’s rights
Women in Indonesia still do not enjoy equal rights. There is strong
reluctance and even resistance in certain segments of the society as well
as among the political elite to codify and implement equal rights for women
and men. A positive step had been made in 2001 with the enactment of the
National Action Plan for the Elimination of Violence against Women. However,
provisions in this plan have been impinged upon by other pieces of legislation.
In addition, with the new regional autonomy further discriminative and
gender-biased regional and local legislation has been put in place. Women
are furthermore especially prone to exploitation due to poverty and economical
destitution. The majority of Indonesian migrant workers is female, and
thus also the vast majority of the illegal Indonesian migrant workers who
had been deported from Malaysia in 2002 were women. Female migrant and
illegal workers as well as industrial workers in Indonesia itself have
increasingly fallen victim to sexualised abuse. Women and also girls have
increasingly been subject to women trafficking in 2002.
Papua
The new Law on Special Autonomy for Papua, which came into effect on January 1st, 2002, was a new approach of the GoI to prevent a separation of the province. However, the GoI shows great reluctance to sincerely solve the conflict in Papua by political means: The GoI does often not comply with the new Law and implementing legislation has yet to be issued. More bluntly demonstrated is this reluctance, however, in the omnipresence of the security forces, which has led to an increase of tension and human rights violations such as restrictions of the freedom of movement, intimidation of the population, unlawful detentions, forced disappearances, torture and extra-legal executions. In addition to military units, a growing number of militias are active in Papua, which have either moved in from the Moluccas or East Nusa Tenggara or are recruited in Papua. There is strong evidence that the military supports the recruitment and formation of militias like Laskar Jihad, Barisan Merah Putih or Tentara Bantuan Operasi.
Cases of past human rights violations like Abepura (2000) and Wasior
(2001) remain unsolved. In the case of the murder of the Chairman of the
Papuan Presidium Council, Theys Eluay, (2001) investigations by a Government-backed
team had only got under way after long delays. The accused, eleven members
of the Special Forces (Komando Pasukan Khusus, Kopassus) are now
tried for common rather than human rights crimes and trials take place
before military courts. Police investigations into the attack on two vehicles
of PT. Freeport employees, which killed three people, two of them Americans,
also hinted at Kopassus involvement. The lack of credible investigation
and appropriate follow-up legal proceedings in these cases has eroded the
already small confidence that the Government might improve the human rights
situation.
Aceh
Numerous efforts to solve the Aceh conflict by way of signing cease-fire agreements and granting special autonomy to Aceh (effective since January 1st, 2002) have failed to stop the fighting between the Indonesian military and the independence movement Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM). It is estimated that 1,230 people have been killed in the year 2002. Both the Indonesian military and the independence fighters have committed massive human rights violations, including murder, torture, rape, forced disappearances and arbitrary detentions. Thousands of Acehnese displaced persons have sought refuge in camps and mosques. The process of bringing perpetrators of serious human rights violations, past and present ones, to justice has - if at all existent - been very disappointing. Calls to try perpetrators for human rights abuses have generally received weak responses from the Government or were even rejected outright.
After long international mediation efforts, on December 9th,
2002, the GoI and GAM signed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. It
is too early to judge whether international monitoring of the withdrawal
of Indonesian troops on the one hand and of the disarmament of GAM on the
other will lead to a lasting peace in the region. It would be unrealistic
to expect drastic changes within such a short period of time. There are
still deaths to be mourned. Nevertheless, slight improvements can already
be observed. It is important that the signing of the Agreement is only
viewed as a very first step on the way to end hostilities in Aceh. The
establishment of substantive and lasting peace in the province requires
the involvement of civil society in the process, the establishment of a
functioning independent judicial system and the addressing of past human
rights abuses. Long-term commitment of the International Community is vital
in this respect.
Communal Conflicts
Peace agreements in Poso and in the Moluccas (Malino I & II Agreements) have transformed the communal conflicts there into a fragile 'peace' - or rather 'non-war' -, whereby the regions remain in a state of continuous tension: Despite the withdrawal of the militias, human rights violations have continued, albeit on a reduced scale. However, some of the still armed militiamen in possession of local identity-cards have stayed on and occasionally instigate violence, this especially in Poso. Refugees of the Moluccas, where, since 1999, the conflict has claimed approximately 9,000 lives, constitute the largest part of Indonesia’s approximately 1,25 million internally displaced persons who are in dire need of support. One indicator for the fact that peace in the two regions is still a long way off is that Muslim and Christian communities live still segregated in both the Moluccas and Poso. A key detriment to the establishment of substantive peace there is the fact that perpetrators of human rights violations still enjoy impunity.
In 2002, furthermore numerous small-scale conflicts have affected Indonesia.
Most of these had started as conflicts over land-rights and resources.
Indonesian police and company security forces are responsible for persistent
human rights abuses against indigenous communities. Abuses include land
seizures without compensation and brutal attacks on local demonstrators.
In many cases the industrial processes abrogate the rights of local people
to health and to appropriate living conditions by destroying or poisoning
the environment. Several industries in different parts of Indonesia are
involved in recruiting not only military members as security personal,
but also militias, who often attack residents. The newly established regional
autonomy contributes to what can be called a decentralisation of violence
into basically every level of Indonesian society. New investment-friendly
policies attract companies to ever more remote areas. There is grave concern
that political initiatives aiming at the necessary economic recovery will
contribute to further sacrifices of human rights or even human lives.
Violation of human rights in the name of Islam
Politically motivated violence under the banner of Islam is committed
in both unorganised and organised form. Unorganised or only temporarily
or sporadically organised forms of (amongst others) politically motivated
and religiously legitimised violence can predominantly be observed in the
mentioned communal conflicts. In the latter also organised forms of violence
are found, committed by Islamist militias, of which the best known one
is the already mentioned Laskar Jihad. Other forms of organised
violence are the numerous bomb attacks in different parts of the country,
the most devastating 'single' one being the Bali attacks. The Bali bombings
and amongst others the so-called Christmas bombings 2000 are alleged to
have been carried out by members of Jema'ah Islamiyah. This group
is characterised as a South East Asia wide radical Islamist network with
links to al-Qua'ida. In December 2002, Jema'ah Islamiyah
has been designated by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. Smaller
scale organised violence in the name of Islam is committed amongst others
by the Front Pembela Islam (FPI) which has gained its notoriety
by way of raiding bars and night clubs. Concerning Laskar Jihad
and the Front Pembela Islam (FPI) there is strong suspicion that
they are backed by members of the Indonesian Armed Forces. The Islamist
and ultra-nationalist Laskar Jihad had announced its dissolution
after the Bali attacks. Nevertheless, Laskar Jihad militias are
increasingly active in Papua now. FPI had proclaimed after the Bali attacks
that it would suspend its activities, but at the end of February 2003 announced
it would resume them and started recruiting members.
One other form of human rights violations in the name of Islam needs
to be mentioned namely the death threats issued by radical clerics against
Ulil Abshar Abdalla, who is a proponent of a liberal interpretation of
Islam.
Concerning human rights violations perpetrated in the name of Islam a worrying observation needs to be noted namely that too seldom clear public statements by political and religious authorities are to be heard which condemn violence and criminal acts and draw a clear line between politically motivated violence committed in the name of Islam on the one hand and Islamic belief and Islam-based political conviction on the other.
One other aspect of (possible) human rights violations with reference
to religion, most notably the religion of the majority of the Indonesian
population, shall be addressed here: the potential for infringement of
human rights with reference to religion as can be found in different pieces
of new legislation. On the Constitutional level one clause is cause for
concern in this respect, namely the one among the new human rights articles
in the Constitutions which determines religious values (side by side with
security and public order) as a basis on which limitations of all codified
human rights may rest. Potential for infringement on womens' rights can
be found in the Human Rights Law where in the special chapter on women's
rights the latters' right to legal capacity has been subjected to a reservation
clause: It is stipulated that women have the right to conduct legal acts
themselves except when determined otherwise by the law of their religion.
Introduction of shari'a law in Indonesia would most probably add
to the potential for infringement on human rights, especially also on women's
rights. In this respect it needs to be noted, that a Constitutional amendment
which would make shari'a law applicable for all adherents of Islam
has continuously been on the agenda during the last years, but so far introducing
shari'a in the whole of Indonesia has not found the necessary majority
in the MPR. In Aceh, however, the Law on Special Autonomy also provides
for shari'a based judicature for the province as part of the national
judicature and the first shari'a court will be inaugurated on March
4st, 2003. <>
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