The people at large need to know how the presidential and vice presidential candidates ..."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Two presidential candidates Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, are vying to be Indonesias next president after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono steps down in October 20, 2014.

Both have promised market-friendly policies to revive growth in Southeast Asias largest economy, but the winner of the July 9 presidential election will also lead the worlds fourth-most populous nation for the next five years and is expected to uphold human rights as well.

Indonesia is undergoing a momentous transition as the president has made justice, law, human rights and democracy central priorities.

The country has ratified all the major human rights conventions, and its National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) plays an important role in protecting and promoting human rights.

Komnas HAM has demanded that an ad hoc human rights judiciary be established to address past human rights violations.

"We demand that whoever is elected president in the July 9 presidential election should support the creation of an ad hoc human rights judiciary, as expected by the community, which supports human rights," Komnas HAM Commissioner Natalius Pigai said on Wednesday (June 11).

The commissions chief of the human rights violations monitoring and investigating sub-commission noted that he had constantly asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to form the ad hoc human rights judiciary.

However, he explained that the president, through the Ministry/State Secretariat, had stated that there was not enough time to do it.

"However, we think there is still time. The next four months for President Yudhoyono before he ends his term of office in October 2014 is enough time for him to do it. We hope that before the transfer of power, the president will have formed the ad hoc human rights judiciary," Pigai noted.

He added that if President Yudhoyono issues a presidential decision to form the ad hoc human rights judiciary, the next president should go ahead with it.

However, if President Yudhoyono fails to form the ad hoc human rights judiciary, Pigai said Komnas Ham will continue to demand that the next president do so.

He noted that human rights violations in the past should be addressed completely by the next government, no matter who the next president is.

The human rights issues came up during the presidential election debate at Balai Sarbini in Jakarta on Monday evening.

Although, the first of the five presidential election debates between Prabowo-Hatta and Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla pairs was on "Promotion of Democracy, Clean Governance, and Legal Certainty," the human rights issue was mentioned during the debate.

All along the debate was relatively cordial, but then it turned slightly tense when Jokowis running mate Jusuf Kalla posed a question to Prabowo about the human rights issue.

"While performing our duty as soldiers, we do the best we can, and it is our superiors who will judge us. So, I understand the direction of your question, sir. I take responsibility, and my conscience is clear. I am the strongest defender of human rights in this republic," Prabowo stated in response to Kallas question.

Hendrik Lewerissa, the chairman of the Maluku regional executive board of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) praised Prabowo clarification on past human rights violations.

"Prabowos clarification on human rights in his response to Kallas question during the presidential debate was enough to convince the Indonesian community that the issue of past human rights violations was not true," Lewerissa stated in Ambon on Thursday.

Lewerissa remarked that he was proud of Prabowos clarification, which reflected that he was a strong statesman who can be trusted to lead this nation for the next five years.

"Therefore, the Red and White Coalition in Maluku province is ready to familiarize the vision and mission of Prabowo and his running mate, Hatta Rajasa, and fight to garner 63 percent of the votes in the July 9 presidential election," Lewerissa added.

Komnas HAM wanted the inclusion of human rights in the debate between presidential and vice presidential candidates for the July 9, 2014, election.

The General Election Commission (KPU) last Thursday evening received Komnas HAM officials, who requested the inclusion of human rights issues in the debate.

Komnas HAM Chairman Hafid Abbas emphasized that by including human rights issues in the debate, the elected president and vice president are expected to uphold human rights and justice in Indonesia.

"The state must defend the rights of every individual because without human rights, the future of this nation will be increasingly dim," Abbas pointed out.

Another Komnas HAM member, Otto Nur Abdullah, also supported the inclusion of human rights issues in the presidential debate, so that the people at large can gain a better understanding about the commitment of presidential and vice presidential candidates to uphold human rights and justice.

"The people at large need to know how the presidential and vice presidential candidates, when elected, will uphold human rights and defend the rights of ordinary people," Abdullah stressed.

The presidential election debate will continue on June 15, when Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo will debate over "Economic Development and Social Welfare" that will be aired by Metro TV and Bloomberg TV.

Thereafter, on June 22, the two presidential candidates will again debate over "Internal Politics and National Resilience," which will be broadcast live by TV One and ANTV.

Later on June 29, Hatta Rajasa and Jusuf Kalla will debate over "Human Resources Development and Science and Technology" that will be aired by RCTI, MNCTV and Global TV.

Finally on July 5, Prabowo-Hatta and Jokowi-JK pairs will again debate about "Food, Energy, and Environment" that will be aired by TVRI and Kompas TV.
(Uu.O001/INE/R-BSR/A014)

Reporter: Otniel Tamindael
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2014