PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

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30 December 2001

As 2001 draws to a close and human rights organisations record their dismay at the worsening human rights situation in many parts of Indonesia during the past twelve months, President Megawati Sukarnoputri has signalled that there is worse to come.

In an address to thousands of officers and men of the Indonesian army this week, she told the troops not to be held back by the fear of committing human rights abuses. Declaring that this was necessary in order to ‘hold the country together’, Megawati said that as long as ‘you keep within the law, you should do your duty without worrying about being involved in human rights abuses.’

Her words are directed in particular towards troops who are conducting operations to quell the people of Aceh and Papua where alienation from Jakarta has deepened over the past year, primarily because of the brutality they have experienced and the failure of the government to punish past abusers of human rights. She said: ‘Suddenly we are aware of the need for a force to protect our … motherland from breaking up.’

TAPOL strongly condemns the President for showing such callous disregard for the interests of the Indonesian people who have lived under the military jackboot for more than three decades and who were hoping that things would change in this post-Suharto era. TAPOL is aghast that the head of state, who owes her present position to the struggle of the pro-democracy movement in freeing Indonesia from three decades of repression under the dictatorship of General Suharto, has given carte blanche to the Indonesian armed forces to do whatever they like in the interests of maintaining the country’s territorial integrity.

Carmel Budiardjo of TAPOL said: ‘Megawati has shown an utter disregard for human rights principles which are integral to the building of a democracy in Indonesia. This is an alarming setback for the cause of human rights in Indonesia.’

The President’s statement is in stark contrast to a speech in August when she told the Indonesian parliament that ‘whenever there is convincing evidence of severe violations of human rights outside the battleground, those found guilty should be held responsible and legal action must be taken against them’.

What has persuaded her to switch from condemning to condoning human rights abuses in such a short space of time?

Three days before Megawati’s carte blanche to the troops, the army chief-of-staff, General Endriartono Sutarto, admitted that his men were ‘still’ committing human rights abuses. ‘We know this is our weak point. I am aware there are one or two cases still occurring.’ But he said that generals could not be held responsible for the mistakes of their troops. This flies in the face of one of the fundamental principles of international human rights law, the principle of ‘command responsibility’. These remarks were clearly intended as a warning to the President that the Indonesian army wants to have their hands freed from any constraints on their actions.

But even more important is the fact that in this post September 11 era, it is becoming increasingly apparent that universal human rights are being gravely undermined in the interests of waging America’s ‘war on terrorism’. The Bush administration has made it clear that everything must be subordinated to this war. In the interests of waging this war, the Bush administration will circumvent the will of the US Congress which has stipulated that the supply of military equipment and training to Indonesia cannot proceed until the armed forces comply with a range of human rights obligations. Washington has now decided to include Indonesia as a beneficiary of a new anti-terrorism law which allocates funds for troops from Southeast Asian countries to train in the US.

On 28 December, the New York Times wrote: ‘Too many leaders in the world are looking for excuses to limit the liberties of their adversaries. It is inevitable that America’s new policies would provide powerful new justifications.’

Unless pressure is brought to bear to persuade President Megawati to reverse her intolerable disdain for human rights, America’s ‘war on terrorism’ will only intensify state terror in Indonesia and bring about a further deterioration in the human rights situation throughout Indonesia, particularly in Aceh and Papua.

ENDS

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