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Subject: Human Rights in Indonesia Threatened by Prabowo, Wiranto
Campaigns
[This is a very welcome reminder. According to recent surveys, he parties of these two men have both made it into the nine parties which are likely to achieve the threshold for taking seats in the DPR. TAPOL] Human Rights in Indonesia is Threatened TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta, May 1: Human rights activists said that a presidential candidate who has a background on human rights violations in the past will hurt the democratic process in Indonesia. They mentioned Prabowo Subianto from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and Wiranto from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) as candidates with this background. Prabowo is allegedly related to the riot on May 1998 while Wiranto with the Semanggi tragedy. "It will make the democratic process recede. We will need two or three more periods to rebuild it," said economist Faisal Basri at a press conference yesterday. "Their candidacies will trigger authorization," he added. Cultural observer, Goenawan Mohamad, suggested voters to consider a candidate who can unveil the Semanggi and Trisakti riots, the murder case over activist Munir, and one who is anti corruption. Suciwati, Munir's wife, said that she has not seen any candidates with a willingness to uncover human rights violations in the past. Hanura's secretary general, Yus Usman Sumanegara, objected with a statement that Wiranto is related to human rights violations in the past. "That's a misleading campaign," Yus said. -- DIANING SARI | SUTARTO
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