Will a dedicated human rights ministry improve disability advocacy in Indonesia?  

One of President Prabowo Subianto’s bold moves after taking office on 20 October 2024 was granting human rights a separate ministry. Through Presidential Decree 139/2024, Prabowo established the Ministry of Human Rights as one of the 48 ministries in his “Red and White” Cabinet, the largest since the Sukarno era.

The decision is not unprecedented. The first human rights ministry was established under President Abdurrahman Wahid in 1999. It lasted for a year and was later merged into the Ministry of Law and Legislation. Between 2009 and 2024, human rights issues were handled by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

Prabowo claimed during his campaign that human rights were a key part of his administration’s agenda, encapsulated in his “Eight Goals” or  “Asta Cita”. The fifth includes initiatives aimed to develop human resources through science, technology, education, health, and sports, while also promoting gender equality, promising to enhance the roles of women and youth – and people with disability.

The establishment of the Human Rights Ministry raises the important question of whether it can deliver better outcomes for people with disability.

The situation of people with disability

With the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (UNCRPD) in 2011 and adoption of its principles in Law 8  of 2016 on People with Disability, the Indonesian government has been obliged to adopt a human rights approach to disability. A human rights-based approach is a framework where the government must turn legal instruments mentioned above into effective policies, and practical realities. It should form the framework to respect and fulfil the rights of people with disability so that they are included in society,  and participate in,  and enjoy the benefits of, Indonesia’s socio-economic, political, and legal development.

Over the past six years, the Australia-Indonesia Disability Research and Advocacy Network (AIDRAN) has conducted research focusing on the rights of people with disability.  We have found widespread lack of awareness about human rights, including even the simple acknowledgment that people with disability have equal rights with their fellow citizens.

This presents a significant challenge to the implementation of legal frameworks, leading to ongoing discrimination and marginalisation. In practice there is  limited access to wide range of basic public services including education, employment, and healthcare, and even the opportunity to participate in general elections.

Who is the new minister?

Former National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Commissioner Natailus Pigai has been assigned to lead the ministry. The native West Papuan politician claimed that his ministry was created because President Prabowo intends to build a stronger Indonesia based on human rights.

Pigai’s rise to the national stage began as a student in Yogyakarta. He worked in various civil society organisations,  and was actively involved in the campaigns to promote the  human rights of Papua, Dayak, Sasak and Aceh. His activities included promoting Papuan cultural development, being part of Forum for the Environment (WALHI), and also part of the left-wing People’s Democratic Party established during the New Order. In his role as the Indonesia’s Human Rights Commissioner he made several encouraging remarks about the rights of people with disabilities, including demanding that people with disability be given their rights to vote in the election.

So far so good. Being from a marginalised and troubled region should provide the minister with fundamental insights into human rights. He has a classic student activist background, and also institutional experience in the promotion of human rights.

However, as Indonesians, we are fully aware how difficult it is to place our trust and hope in anyone, especially given recent examples of former student activists abandoning their commitments to justice, human rights, and ethics in favor of personal or political gain.

Can a Prabowo government help? 

Notwithstanding the positive focus in the election campaign on human rights, and establishment of the ministry, the nature of Indonesian politics means we are constantly reminded not to let our hopes rise too high.

Prabowo is an unlikely champion of human rights. His own chequered human rights record has been cited as one of the key impediments to his presidential bids. Prabowo has been implicated in the kidnap and disappearance of activists during the wider violence and destruction in 1997/1998. Prabowo’s alleged involvement in gross violations of human rights was sufficiently potent to lead to his voluntary exile from Indonesia for many years.

In 2009, he ran as the vice-presidential candidate of Megawati Soekarnoputri, who lost to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). In 2014 and 2019, he was defeated by former President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. His repeated failures have been largely attributed to his human rights record, which for long seemed to be a significant point of contention for many voters.

It appears, however, that the cuddly grandpa ‘gemoy’ image presented by Prabowo in his successful 2024 campaign was enough to convince the public that his past was truly behind him. That, or Indonesia’s recent political history is of little concern to younger voters.

But Prabowo’s history still remains a sensitive and controversial subject. Just one day after Prabowo’s inauguration, the new coordinating minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, was reported as stating that the events of 1997/1998 did not amount to gross violations of human rights. He was forced to offer a clarification soon afterwards, suggesting that reports from this era would be reviewed by the Ministry of Human Rights.

From Human Rights Ministry to a rights-based approach?

We highlighted above the pervasive lack of awareness of the rights of persons with disability. This alone presents a formidable barrier to achieving real gains in a wide range of areas. The situation is so dire that one young disability advocate told AIDRAN researchers that people with disability often themselves lack awareness of their rights. When told they are entitled to pursue education, some still respond ‘jadi itu hak saya?’ (so is that my right?).

Government agencies and institutional leaders often explain to AIDRAN researchers that resources are simply not available to support people with disability. What this means is that everyone needs to make disability rights their business. It is a truly cross-sectoral issue affecting all areas of administration and service delivery. The failure to grasp this fact may be due to the historical approach to disability as being a health and medical issue.

It may be that disability requires a higher profile in national government. To date there has been criticism of the placement of the National Disability Commission (KND) under the coordination of Ministry of Social Affairs. The concern is that this is inconsistent with the legislative mandate that the KND be an independent, non-structural institution. It is therefore pleasing to see the outgoing president recently agree with this critique, proposing the Prabowo administration place the KND under direct presidential oversight. Let’s see if this will happen.

People with disability have learned to be cautious and to manage their expectations. Is it too much to hope that these important developments will deliver much needed impetus to Indonesia’s disability sector? Two important structural changes are underway. A dedicated Minister for Human Rights and, we trust, a more independent and centrally located commission. With this, perhaps it is not wrong for people with disability to expect Prabowo and his ministers may be able to improve the lives of people with disability.

But public resources are always scarce, and to date there has been only limited commitment to disability policy. If the new human rights minister wants to make real impact for people with disability, he will have to become a champion of disability rights in government, pushing his colleagues hard to contribute to delivering real change at last.