Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid has failed to fulfil his promise to protect human rights and re mains hobbled by a reactionary old guard left over from the disgraced Suharto regime. The criticism comes in a year-end report by the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (Elsham), which awarded Mr Wahid low marks for his efforts.
The President has shown disappointing leadership, especially on human rights issues, and remains hobbled by a politicised military and the rich, reactionary old guard left in place by former president Suharto, said Elsham director Ifdhal Kasim.
"The performance of the Government and legislature in regards to human rights in the year 2000 has been disappointing," Mr Kasim said. "Therefore, we urge the Government to draw a clear distinction with the old regime.
"It's as if the current Government has become the captive of the old regime because they are forced to continually compromise with the forces of the old regime." He said these forces included the second most powerful party in parliament, Golkar, and the military elite.
Instead of being addressed, human rights violations were being used as tools in political negotiations between Indonesia and the outside world, in the case of East Timor, and between Jakarta and secessionist movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya.
Mr Wahid's helplessness, whatever his intentions, is shown by his repeated calls this week to free five independence leaders jailed in the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura. The security forces are ignoring his orders, dimming hopes of a release before Christmas in the largely Christian province.
The bitterness of the struggle between old and new is even more obvious in the wrangles over who should lead the country's Supreme Court, which, like every court in Indonesia, has long rated badly on honesty and justice.
After months of hearings and so-called "fit and proper" tests, Parliament pared down a list of candidates for Chief Justice to two men, Muladi and Bagir Manan. Mr Muladi was justice minister under Suharto and his chosen successor, Bacharuddin Habibie, while Mr Bagir was an official and administrator with Suharto's political vehicle, Golkar.
Not surprisingly, the President is putting a decision off for as long as possible, although he pointedly installed a deputy chief justice this week. He cannot choose his own man for the top job, but is asking Parliament to give him more choices. "The President is unable to make that decision by himself, but he will make it with the Vice-President," said presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar.
Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri's party, the largest in Parliament, stormed out of hearings that chose the two men in disgust at the result. But Golkar chief and parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who like Mr Muladi was a loyal cabinet minister under Suharto, cannot see the problem.
"I can't understand why Gus Dur [Mr Wahid's nickname] finds it difficult to appoint a Supreme Court chief. If the appointment of the deputy chief of the Supreme Court is not difficult, it should also be easy to appoint the chief justice," he said.
On the broader political scale, Mr Wahid's Government has been forced to compromise with the past by amending the constitution to provide immunity for human rights crimes committed before relevant laws were in place.
Corruption continues to rule the administration of justice, courts continue to throw out cases against the well-connected, and even if sentences are delivered – such as on Suharto's son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra – the wrongdoers remain on the loose.
The Muhammadiyah University's Centre of Legal Aid in Yogyakarta has reached the same conclusion, announcing this week that legal reform had yet to be achieved. Its secretary, Iwan Satriawan, said the "court mafia" had made people sceptical about justice in Indonesia.
Dr Timothy Lindsey, of the University of Melbourne law faculty, says Indonesia is one of the worst nations in terms of rule of law. "In fact Indonesia hasn't had rule of law since 1957."