Indonesia Blasted for Failure to Uphold Its Own Laws

“If this keeps up, it could be dangerous. It could undermine the principle of rule of law in the country and lead to an even greater loss of public trust in the government.”

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Globe
By Agus Triyono | December 21, 2011

The government is guilty of flouting dozens of its own laws throughout 2011, a leading legal watchdog said on Tuesday.

In its year-end presentation, the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) said that was evident from the host of cases in which the state failed to enforce the letter of the law, including the continued closure of the GKI Yasmin church in Bogor, which was twice ordered reopened by the Supreme Court.

Nurkholis Hidayat, the LBH Jakarta director, said another was the failure by the Health Ministry and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), a state school, to comply with a Supreme Court ruling to release a list of infant milk brands found to be contaminated with a potentially deadly bacteria.


“Look at those cases,” Nurkholis said. “Even though the state is legally bound to abide by the rulings, no state official has done so.

“If this keeps up, it could be dangerous. It could undermine the principle of rule of law in the country and lead to an even greater loss of public trust in the government.”

LBH Jakarta also blamed willful oversight by the government and its various agencies for the spate of human rights violations that occurred throughout the year, including the deadly mob attack on members of the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect in Cikeusik, Banten, earlier this year.


Read original post here: Indonesia Blasted for Failure to Uphold Its Own Laws