| Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia | |
Graft allegations hit Komnas HAM
Jakarta Post - October 29, 2016
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has been hit by a slew of scandals in the past, but the fresh graft allegations leveled against it have seriously tarnished its image.
The allegations emerged after the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) issued a disclaimer opinion, the worst possible evaluation, of Komnas HAM's budget report last June because of questionable spending of more than Rp 2 billion (US$153,198).
The figure includes around Rp 1.02 billion of expenses without receipts, Rp 820.25 million in suspected embezzlement and the fabricated purchase of a Rp 330 million official residence for Komnas HAM commissioner Dianto Bachriadi.
The commission has suspended Dianto while carrying out further investigations into the matter before determining his fate in the institution. It has also set up an internal team to work on upholding good internal governance in order to avoid similar incidents occurring.
Human rights activists have voiced their concerns over the issues plaguing Komnas HAM, which still has a lot of work to do before the current commissioners' terms end next year.
"This is the worst period in Komnas HAM's entire history," said a human rights watchdog's director, Hendardi. "We cannot expect Komnas HAM to do much to uphold its tasks if individuals serving at the institution lack credibility."
The graft allegations add to a long list of controversies at the human rights body. Komnas HAM has been struggling to perform since its current commissioners took office in 2012. Internal infighting over facilities and leadership marked the beginning of the current terms.
The conflict forced Komnas HAM to review its internal regulations to allow a change of leadership every year, which some critics say is the main factor that has undermined its performance.
Hendardi, therefore, called for total internal bureaucratic reform at Komnas HAM to make the rights body fully independent and reliable.
He suggested that could be achieved by improving the recruitment of commissioners and recruiting independent individuals to serve at the secretariat instead of employing civil servants for all administrative roles.
The lack of competence of individuals serving at the national rights body, Hendardi said, had eroded public trust in the institution.
The problems at Komnas HAM could not come a worse time, with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration putting human rights issues on the back burner.
During Jokowi's two years in office, his administration has executed dozens of convicts and supported policies considered discriminatory against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Jokowi has also been dragging his feet on resolving past rights abuse cases as he was forced to accommodate members of the old guard, who may be culpable for human rights abuses, to consolidate his power.
The rights body was established in 1993 by former president Soeharto in response to pressure from the UN Commission on Human Rights over allegations of serious human rights abuses by the regime.
Over the years, it has faced criticism for its inability to make substantial achievements in promoting human rights in the country, particularly in settling past rights abuses.
This is partly due to a lack of authority vested in the national rights body as it only has the power to carry out preliminary investigations into cases of violations. It has requested greater authority through an amendment of the 1999 Law on Komnas HAM.
Komnas HAM submitted a bill to the House of Representatives in 2012 in order to gain subpoena powers to allow it to forcibly question suspected perpetrators. The fate of the bill, however, remains in limbo until today.
Activist Al Araf from human rights monitor Imparsial said he supported greater power for Komnas HAM, but added that the government and the House should ensure only quality individuals served as its commissioners.
"The recent revelation of the corruption scandal provides momentum to reform Komnas HAM in order to make the institution able to proceed with its work."
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/10/29/graft-allegations-hit-komnas-ham.html.
See also:
 |