Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Contradicting the government's frequent refrain that Indonesia is a haven of diversity, justice and tolerance, a trio of NGOs took the country's leaders to task on Sunday, criticizing the lack of progress in areas ranging from combating religious violence to eradicating corruption 10 years into the reform era.
On Thursday and Friday, the world acknowledged International Human Rights Day and International Anti-Corruption Day, respectively. To mark those occasions, the Jakarta Globe asked several seasoned activists to evaluate the government's progress over the past year.
Indriaswati Dyah Saptaningrum, director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), gave the government's human rights record a failing grade. She said the state had not brought to justice those responsible for past human rights violations, and was lax in enforcing laws to curb radical groups that violate the rights of minorities.
Indriaswati pointed out that nothing had been done to follow up on the House of Representatives' recommendation in 2009 that a human rights tribunal be established to investigate the disappearance of students and activists in the tumultuous last year of Suharto's regime from 1997 to 1998.
Some 22 pro-democracy activists disappeared during that time. Nine of them resurfaced with accounts of torture by the military, but 13 remain missing.
From the start of the year to December, Elsam said there were 230 instances in which poor farmers were hit with criminal charges for protesting plantation owners. In addition, it recorded 38 attacks on minority groups and 99 instances of police violence against civilians.
"The government seems to ignore the violence against minority groups and the lack of protection for small farmers in conflicts with major plantation companies. Not to mention the lack of protection for Indonesian workers abroad," Indriaswati said.
Emerson Yuntho, a coordinator with Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the government's frequent promises to eradicate corruption had yet to yield substantial results. The president, he said, is quick to establish teams such as the special task force for eradicating the so-called judicial mafia, but the bodies lack any real authority and can do little more than report alleged corruption cases.
"The task force has made noise but there haven't been any significant results," he said.
He also despite talking about fighting corruption for years, the government still lacked anything like a clear strategy. "Rather than playing the guitar and writing songs or making empty statements about how concerned he is over corruption, the president should present a sound strategy for eradicating corruption," Emerson said.
The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) said the government had also failed to ensure basic social and economic opportunities for the majority of its citizens.
Erna Ratnaningsih, chairwoman of the YLBHI, said most provinces allocated less than 20 percent of their budgets for education despite federal law that stipulates a 20 percent minimum education allocation. "In speeches the government always tries to sound optimistic while in fact many promises go unfulfilled," she said.
In response to the criticism, Ramadhan Pohan, deputy secretary of the ruling Democratic Party, said the president had a strategy for addressing issues related to human rights, democracy and corruption.
"I hope the NGOs will also look into the governments accomplishments and not pretend there have not been any," Pohan said, pointing to the government's success in investigating Gayus Tambunan and taking the case to court.
"In the case of human rights violations, the government is committed and we are gradually making progress," he said. "There is no such thing as an instant result."