Indonesian President Accuses Military, Police of Committing Human Rights AbusesIndonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid accused here Wednesday the country's military (TNI) and the National Police (Polri) of committing human rights violations."Institutions of the TNI and the Police have committed so much human rights violations. Moreover, so far the two institutions have been used as tools to commit human rights abuses," Wahid said when addressing an international workshop on human rights at the State Palace Wednesday. Wahid asked all parties involved in the human rights abuses in the past "to make improvements, no matter who it might be." The president also said that the military and police institutions have been easily used as means to commit human rights abuses. "The two institutions have been easily used by some persons to commit human rights violations. But the institutions themselves were innocent," he said. "But the institutions need to be improved but the ongoing changes are running slowly, as some parties keep trying to undermine the process (of the changes toward improvements)," he was quoted by the Detikcom online news service as saying. On Tuesday, presidential spokesman Yahya Staquf also warned security personnel over possible repressive measures which were taken to deal with demonstrations, saying "the safety of the people must be protected." |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |