Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The internal schism between commissioners of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) seems to have weakened the body and allowed outsiders to capitalize on the conflict to further reduce the authority of the agency.
Both the government and the House of Representatives are now making moves to strip the agency of its power.
Responding to demand from Komnas HAM for an amendment to Law No. 39/1999 on human rights, which grants immunity from legal prosecution, House Commission III on law and human rights is preparing to do the exact opposite.
"These continuing squabbles between the agency commissioners tell me that Komnas HAM can no longer be trusted to choose its own leader. We are considering assuming the authority to select the leaders from commissioners. We're looking into an appropriate amendment to the law on human rights that would give us such powers," Martin Hutabarat of the Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) told The Jakarta Post.
If the political factions agree on the proposal, the House would have the authority to select a Komnas HAM chairman for a five-year term and not the 2.5-year tenure system currently in place or the one-year term currently proposed by the commissioners themselves.
The five-year-tenure is the latest proposal by the House to ease tension within Komnas HAM.
Last week, during a House session with the commissioners, lawmakers threatened to cut the already meager budget of Rp 40 billion (US$4.1 million) if the rights body failed to resolve the dispute by early next month.
Bickering in the rights body erupted early last month when nine of the 13 commissioners decided to change an internal regulation and allow annual turnover of the commission's leadership.
Rights activists suspect that the proposal was orchestrated by politicians who want to interfere with the internal process within the commission ahead of the 2014 elections.
Some activists go so far as to suggest that many commissioners themselves are mere stuffed shirts: appendages political parties, if not actual government agencies including the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN).
Various groups with considerable vested interests in emasculating the Commission on Human Rights have coalesced to form a movement with the objective of impeaching the current chairman Otto Nur Abdullah, well known for his tireless struggle to uncover past human rights abuses.
A coalition of the country's human rights watchdogs, consisting of among others, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Imparsial and the Institute for Research and Advocacy (Elsam) want Komnas HAM to reject the proposal on internal regulation outright.
"The discussion is a waste of time and energy. It's better to focus on resolving the growing number of cases of human rights abuse. Just let Otto and his deputies Sandrayati Moniaga and M. Nurkhoiron finish their terms in 2015 as was previously agreed," the coalition told the Post on Sunday.
The Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI), a human rights network of 28 rights watchdogs from 17 countries in Asia, also made similar appeal, suggesting Komnas HAM focus on more substantial issues, declaring "ANNI agrees with the spirit of collective and collegial leadership, but we remain unconvinced that the shortened term and rotation of the chairmanship contributes to the realization of this goal.
"ANNI appreciates the autonomy and diversity in the leadership of Komnas HAM, however we are concerned that such changes may prevent as sense of continuity in Komnas HAM's ongoing and long-term work plans."