Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The future of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) is uncertain as the House of Representatives stalls the election of new commissioners.
Following House feet dragging in the selection process, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last month extended the terms for outgoing Komnas HAM commissioners for three months.
Political factions at House Commission III on law and human rights are debating whether to proceed with selection from 30 proposed candidates, following a lawsuit by one of Komnas HAM's commissioners Syafruddin Ngulma Simeulue, challenging the legality of the process.
"Representatives from each faction have presented their views and we will make a decision next week," Commission II Chairman I Gede Pasek Suardika told reporters after a closed-door meeting on Wednesday.
Four political factions, the Democratic Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the United Development Party (PPP), and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), have called for a speedy selection.
But the Golkar Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party, and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) have stood against a proposal to go ahead with the selection. These factions argue that they should first deal with the lawsuit.
Commission III deputy chairman Nasir Djamil of the PKS said that the final decision would likely be taken by vote. "We can wait no longer. We must make the decision soon. It's been too long and this is getting more urgent as the House will end its session next month," Nasir said.
Syafruddin has filed a lawsuit against the selection committee itself, its chair former constitutional court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie and several Komnas HAM's commissioners, including chairman Ifdhal Kasim, whom he accused of impropriety in the selection process.
According to Syafruddin, the selection committee had arbitrarily required candidates to provide an undergraduate diploma, a condition that is not detailed in the 1999 Law on the human rights commission. Syafruddin said that the new requirement had disqualified him from seeking a second term as he hold no undergraduate degree.
A source familiar with the selection process however told the Post that Commission III stalled the selection process to protect politicians with poor human rights records campaigning for the 2014 presidential election.
"The House is a political institution. Every move made by lawmakers is political, especially in the run-up to the 2014 legislative and presidential elections," the source said.
Cancellation [of the current selection process] would hamper the work of the commissioners because, given their uncertain status, they have no strong mandate to make important decisions. This will eventually compromise their work, the source said.
In recent months, Komnas HAM has made important findings on some of the country's gross violations of human rights.
In August, the outfit announced that oil and gas company PT Lapindo Brantas, which was controlled by Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, was responsible for the man-made disaster Lapindo mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java.
The rights commission also deemed impacts from the mudflow human rights violations. Earlier, Komnas HAM investigation also implicated Prabowo Subianto, the chief patron of Gerindra party and Wiranto, chairman of Hanura, in the alleged human rights violations in the 1998 May riots.