APSN | What is going on with human rights?

Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia

What is going on with human rights?

Jakarta Globe Editorial - December 12, 2014

Jusuf Kalla: Government won't apologise for past human rights volitions – Portal Kabar. December 10, 2014
Human rights let-downs damp Jokowi's pledges – Jakarta Globe. December 10, 2014
Survey unveils early doubts on Jokowi's commitment – Jakarta Post. December 9, 2014
Minister admonished for rights remarks – Jakarta Post. December 5, 2014
Indonesian president authorises five executions – The Guardian. December 5, 2014

In the weeks after the inauguration of President Joko Widodo, representatives of the GKI Yasmin church in Bogor expressed their hopes that finally, after years of being shut out of their place of worship, the end of their ordeal was in sight.

With a new president, a new mayor in the West Java city, Bima Arya, and a new minister of religious affairs, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, things looked a lot rosier for the congregation that saw its church sealed despite rulings from the Supreme Court and the Indonesian Ombudsman.

Bima had vowed to resolve the church dispute. But now, less than two weeks away from Christmas, the mayor says he has "strong reasons not to open the church." Considering that the Supreme Court has already ruled in the congregation's favor, it will be interesting to see what these reasons are.

Just last Sunday, the National Police said it would take a tough stance against people targeting the country's many minority groups. But a day later, security forces opened fire on a group of young demonstrators in Papua's Paniai district, killing six.

On Tuesday, the president repeated his campaign promise to solve past rights abuses, as his government faced flak over the release of the man convicted of assassinating one of the nation's most prominent human rights defenders in 2004. He served little more than half of his 14-year sentence.

Only weeks ago Amnesty International strongly criticized the administration of Joko's predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, for the use of outdated blasphemy laws against people who peacefully expressed their views. But now the editor-in-chief of the Jakarta Post has tragically been charged with blasphemy for publishing a cartoon.

Joko has only just started his presidency and a lot has already changed for the better. But when it comes to human rights, hopefully developments in the past week are no sign of things to come.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/opinion/editorial-going-human-rights/.