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Moerdiono: Indonesia will not allow the UN to open a human rights office in Indonesia

Source
Republika - March 10, 1997 (Abridged)

Minister of State Moerdiono said that the Indonesian Government will not allow a recommendation to go forward from the UN Commission on Human Rights for the UN Human Rights High Commissioner to open an office in Jakarta. This would be a violation of Indonesia's sovereignty, he said. "It's not for them to get involved in handling a matter that falls within the jurisdiction of a member state," he said. [Moerdiono is Suharto's right-hand man.]

Reuters reported that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had expressed concern about the human rights situation in Indonesia, especially in East Timor. "I hope that agreement will very soon be reached so that we can begin our activities in the interests of Indonesia and East Timor," UN High Commissioner Jose Ayala Lasso was quoted as saying. He said that during his visit to Indonesia in 1995, the Indonesian Government promised to allow the UN High Commissioner's office to open a representative office in Indonesia.

Moerdiono said that Indonesia knows all about the implementation of human rights in Indonesia. "The US which is also calling for the implementation of human rights in East Timor is not better informed about the situation in East Timor. When we ask them about it, most of them know nothing at all about East Timor," he said. Moreover, it should be stressed that the American understanding of human rights differs greatly from Indonesia's understanding of the question.

"They have no right to teach us anything. They have been a colonial power in the past, haven't they?" he said.

Insisting that there were no human rights violations in Indonesia, Moerdiono said: "We are implementing human rights very well. It's not correct to look at the matter through Western eyes."

He also said that the UN had not made any contact with Indonesia on the plan to open this office. "There should be mutual understanding first," he said.

Deputy Chair of the National Human Rights Commission, Marzuki Darusman, said it was Indonesia's right to reject this plan. He said he thought the High Commissioner's plan was intended to make it possible for his officials to monitor the human rights situation in East Timor. "I don't think there is any urgency for the UN to do this," he told Republika.

He said this question had been under review for a long time and he had heard about it at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry. There had been talk of a technical agreement between the UN High Commissioner and Indonesia. The cooperation could take a variety of forms. But difficulties had arisen when the UN asked to be allowed to monitor the situation in East Timor. The National Commission could understand the reasons for the Indonesian Government's refusal to allow this to happen, said Marzuki.

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