Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The government defended Friday its decision to approve the creation of an ASEAN regional human rights body which has been widely criticized for being toothless as it lacks the power to investigate and punish the culprits.

Speaking to reporters at his office on Friday, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Indonesia would not have endorsed the terms of reference for the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights if the other nine nations had declined to guarantee the body would be reviewed and improved after five years.

"We do not want to speculate. We would not have been involved (in creating the rights body) if there were no guarantee that its procedures and mechanisms will later be improved, especially with regard to the protection aspect."

The terms of reference of the rights body – which is due to be officially established in October – were approved during the 42nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Phuket last week. While it is considered as historic for ASEAN, the commission has drawn criticism from international rights bodies, including from the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Rights activists have accused the government of giving up too early in its fight for a credible rights body in the region. "As long as it doesn't include the idea of rights protection, we can't expect any improvement in human rights conditions in Southeast Asia," Todung Mulya Lubis, from the Indonesian NGO Imparsial, said.

Myanmar has become a burden to ASEAN for jailing pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and other political dissidents in the country, which has drawn international condemnation. The country is likely to sentence Suu Kyi to prison or keep her under house arrest after slapping new charges on her that international communities condemn as outrageous.

On Friday, the court in Yangon adjourned the issuance of the verdict on Suu Kyi's case until Aug. 11. "It could be seen as positive sign that Myanmar is finally responding to international calls (to release Suu Kyi), but nobody knows what they are going to do," he said.