Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – The country's human rights record worsened in 2001 as the state continued to neglect its obligations to promote and protect human rights, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said.

In its annual report released on Monday, Kontras said that the administrations of both former president Abdurrahman Wahid, familiarly known as Gus Dur, and President Megawati Soekarnoputri had failed to show a commitment to upholding the people's civil and political rights in 2001.

"What we see is only a tug-of-war between political interests, but we have yet to see efforts to strengthen the institutions that handle human rights issues or the refining of legal mechanisms," Kontras coordinator Ori Rahman said during a discussion organized in conjunction with the launching of its annual report titled Human Rights in Stagnation: Report on Human Rights Conditions in Indonesia in 2001.

Highlighting the unrestrained human rights abuses in 2001, Ori said that the country's rights records was only likely to worsen in 2002 and beyond.

Kontras noted that efforts to protect victims and to make people more aware of human rights issues were neglected in 2001, and that both Gus Dur and Megawati had failed to prevent more rights violations. "This is indicated by the appointment of those who were responsible for many rights abuses to strategic positions in the country," Kontras said.

The appointment of A.M. Hendropriyono and Da'i Bachtiar as the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and National Police chiefs respectively has come under fire because of their alleged past human rights abuses.

Hendropriyono has been accused of human rights abuses in Lampung in 1989, in what became known as the Talangsari intimidation, while demands have been made for Da'i to account for the shooting dead of five supporters of Gus Dur in Bondowoso, East Java, in 2000.

"The military and police still have the power to influence the state's policy with regard to human rights issues," Ori said.

Many past human rights abusers have been left untouched, including those responsible for the 1984 mass slaying in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta; the 1989 intimidation in Talangsari, Lampung; the 1998 and 1999 shootings of student activists and citizens; and the unsolved kidnappings of at least 1,039 people, 14 of whom have not been heard from since.

Meanwhile, repressive action against secessionist movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya was still ongoing, and the social conflicts in other regions of the country, such as Maluku, Central Sulawesi's Poso and Central Kalimantan's Sampit had yet to be resolved.

Kontras concluded that the latest government-backed peace deals for Maluku and Poso had failed to change the quality of violence in those regions, violence that also involved the military.