Hundreds of millions of Indonesians will cast their votes next week to elect the next president and vice president. The three options are very clear: Megawati-Prabowo, Yudhoyono-Boediono and Kalla-Wiranto. Yet their human rights visions and programs remain unclear. During the campaign, the three teams have bombarded the public with their images and spent a great deal of money to advertise themselves in newspapers and on radio, television and websites. Each of them claims that they are pro-people and better than the other two. However, an important ingredient that has been missing from the whole campaign is a meaningful discourse on human rights.

In Latin, caveat literally means let her or him be aware. Legally, it refers to a notice directed at a court or public officer to suspend a proceeding until the notifier is awarded a hearing. It was the poignant literal meaning of the word that led us to the name for our first English report. Caveat aims to present monthly analysis of the human rights situation in Indonesia. We chose to publish CAVEAT in English to cater to our non-Indonesian audience who are particularly interested in the development of human rights, legal reform and democracy in Indonesia.

In the aftermath of a disaster, the government is under the political, moral, and legal obligation to provide relief and assistance to victims. This is certainly the case for the Indonesian government in regards to the mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java. The question of how the government should properly respond to the disaster has even become an issue in our presidential debate.

The fight against drugs should be conducted with the aim of protecting and rehabilitating drug addicts, as opposed to torturing them. Recognizing the human rights of drug users is essential, not least because it helps prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and mitigate the impact of drug use on public health. Criminalizing and targeting drug users will never solve the root problems of global illicit drug trafficking. Severe punishments such as the death penalty – which is the ultimate denial of the right to life and a form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment – have failed to lower drug trafficking levels.

Last week was the third anniversary of an event that changed the lives of Indonesians living in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java province. On May 29, 2006, a massive eruption of hot steam, water and mud occurred, inundating village after village, forcing thousands of people to abandon their homes and property. The tragedy which is known as the Lapindo mud flow took their livelihoods and also deprived them of their dignity.