Rights and wrongs
In post-reform Indonesia, democracy and human rights have become popular buzzwords. They are bandied around not just by activists and politicians, but most often by people who have only the vaguest inkling of what they mean.
Often, the loudest proponents are the very same people who worked furiously to suppress any expression of democracy or the promotion of human rights during ex-president Suharto's 32-year rule.
Thus, it should be no surprise that the Minister for Human Rights and Justice, Yusril Izha Mahendra, complained last week that his rights were being infringed. His reason? He had to make do with a low salary, he claimed.
His monthly wage of 19 million rupiah (HK$17,000), plus a car and house, might be low, and hardly conducive to avoiding corruption. But if this is a violation of human rights, then about 90 per cent of Indonesians are currently suffering the same abuses.
Mr Yusril's comments show that, despite heading a ministry supposedly dedicated to promoting human rights, he has no idea what that entails.
But what is more surprising is that the complaint comes from the man who used to be Suharto's speech writer. The same man who heads the conservative Crescent Star Party, which has been lobbying hard for the introduction of the Islamic, or sharia, law.
Mr Yusril's ministry has also drafted laws forbidding sex between unmarried couples, adultery and oral sex between married couples, as well as homosexual sex. As gay rights groups point out, the introduction of such a law violates the International Declaration of Human Rights, to which Indonesia is a signatory.
Under Mr Yusril's watch, little has been done to promote Indonesians' human rights or bring any number of past abuse cases to court.
An ad-hoc human rights court, for instance, established to try military and militia leaders over the destruction of East Timor, has been widely condemned.
