Irfan Kamil, Jessi Carina, Jakarta – Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) Chairperson Muhammad Isnur has criticised the upholding of human rights and democracy in the first year of the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Isnur said that throughout the first year of the administration many incidents occurred that showed the decline of democracy, restrictions on civil liberties and violations of human rights. "A critical evaluation, firstly, it appears that Prabowo has no interest or concern over the issues of democracy, human rights and civil policy", Isnur told Kompas.com on Sunday October 19.
According to Isnur, various incidents including the arrest of activists, the dispersal of demonstrations, intimidation by authorities and acts of violence against citizens show that the space for civil liberties is narrowing. "Last August there were many arrests of activists, demonstrators and violence in the field, and 10 people even died", he said.
He also touched on the situation in Papua which he considers to still be ridden with violence by the authorities against civilians. "The violence in Papua is massive, in terms of numbers, high", said Isnur.
Furthermore, Isnur regretted that there is no support by the government for human rights issues in the official state agenda. He highlighted Prabowo's recent speech at the UN General Assembly which was seen as not reflecting a partiality towards humanitarian issues.
"In his speech, Prabowo also did not pay any attention whatsoever to human rights issues. During his state speech in the morning, he did not mention a single word about human rights", he said.
Isnur believes that the Prabowo administration has also shown no commitment to resolving past human rights violations. "Issues of past violence have made no progress in rehabilitation at all", he said.
Issues that needs to be appreciated
Despite this, Isnur said there were a number of policies that deserved appreciation because they were corrected by President Prabowo. He touched on several policies that were previously considered problematic and were then cancelled by the government.
For example, gas shortages, tax increases and bank account blocking policies. "What needs to be appreciated is that several policies that were completely destructive were then cancelled by Prabowo. Such as the increase in VAT, also the issue of gas, gas shortages, the issue of blocked accounts, and also the issue of Aceh", said Isnur.
According to Isnur however, these corrective steps are were only temporary and did not solve the root of the problem. Isnur believes that Prabowo only corrected the mistakes of his staff without solving the main problems that occurred. "Prabowo band aids the mistakes of his subordinates", he said.
Ministerial evaluation
Isnur is pessimistic that Prabowo will change his commitment to upholding human rights, however he believes that the ministries can still be a driving factor for change.
"It's difficult for us to have hope in Prabowo because Prabowo himself doesn't seem to care about human rights. But what could be a game changer are his ministries", he said. According to Isnur, his ministers must have the courage to take a stand to ensure that the country continues to run within the corridors of the constitution.
"Ministers should prioritise the rule of law, human rights and democracy. They must take the initiative, must be brave, and understand human rights more deeply", said Isnur. "If you're hoping for the president's awareness, that won't happen", he added.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Setahun Pemerintahan Prabowo-Gibran, Ini Catatan YLBHI".]
