John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the 132nd report of the Committee of Privileges, entitled Persons referred to in the Senate: Mr Chalid Muhammad and Mr Nurkholis on behalf of staff of the Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI).

Ordered that the report be printed.

I seek leave to move a motion in relation to the report.

Leave granted.

I move:

That the report be adopted.

This report is the 51st in a series of reports recommending that a right of reply be afforded to persons who claim to have been adversely affected by being referred to, either by name or in such a way as to be readily identified, in the Senate. The committee has dealt with several applications from organisations, or persons on behalf of organisations, but this is only the second occasion on which the committee has considered an application from persons outside Australia.

As usual, the committee has approached the matter from the point of view of facilitating access to the procedure by affected persons. On 20 August 2007, the President received a submission from Mr Chalid Muhammad, Executive Director, and Mr Nurkholis, national board member, on behalf of the Indonesian Forum for Environment, WALHI, relating to comments made by Senator Ian Macdonald in the Senate on 9 August 2007 during general business. The President referred the submission to the committee under privilege resolution 5. The committee considered the submission on 13 September 2007 and recommends that the proposed response, as agreed between the committee and representatives of WALHI, be incorporated in Hansard.

The committee reminds the Senate that, in matters of this nature, it does not judge the truth or otherwise of statements made by senators or the persons referred to. Rather, it ensures that these persons’ submissions and, ultimately, the responses it recommends accord with the criteria set out in privilege resolution 5. I commend the motion to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

The response read as follows—

Appendix One

Response by Mr Chalid Muhammad and Mr Nurkholis, on behalf of staff of the Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI)

Pursuant to Resolution 5(7)(b) of the Senate of 25 February 1988

The Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI), its National Director Chalid Muhammad and its staff, both Indonesian and Australian citizens, would like to request that an appropriate response be incorporated into the Parliamentary record according to Australian Parliamentary Privilege rules, to correct erroneous and seriously damaging statements made by Senator Ian Macdonald in the Senate on 9 August 2007. Chalid Muhammad and other WALHI staff can be readily identified by virtue of their publicly listed positions within the organisation, and Senator Ian Macdonald’s allegations of connections to terrorism are especially damaging to their reputations and associations with others given the Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 and the current climate of fear in Australia. Besides setting the record straight in the Parliamentary record, we would also like to request an apology from the Senator.

The Indonesia Forum for Environment (WALHI) is the largest forum of non-government and community-based organisations in Indonesia. It is 27 years old, is represented in 25 provinces and is comprised of 438 member organisations. WALHI is a respected community organisation in Indonesia, and counts many key Indonesian public figures including past and present ministers and members of parliament among its supporters. Ms Erna Witolear, former Indonesian Minister of Human Settlements and Regional Development and current UN Special Ambassador for MDGs in the Asia Pacific is a founding member and continuing supporter of WALHI. So too is Mr Emil Salim, former Indonesian State Minister for Population and Environment, UN Eminent Person and member of the UN High Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development.

WALHI’s staff are frequently called upon to provide expert advice to the Indonesian House of Representatives on policy matters such as climate change, forests and energy. One of WALHI’s deputy directors and two members of its national council have recently been elected members of the National Commission on Human Rights for the period 2007–2012. WALHI’s staff and network of volunteers were among the first organisations to respond with coordinated emergency assistance to the survivors of the 2004 Asian Tsunami and the 2006 Java earthquake.

WALHI’s agenda of work and executive leadership is democratically chosen at a periodical direct meeting of hundreds of representatives of its member community organisations. WALHI’s membership and philosophy is pluralistic and embraces all of Indonesia’s hundreds of ethnic groups and many religious beliefs.

Neither WALHI nor its national director is or has ever been a member of any other mass organisations, religious or otherwise, including Hizbut-Tahrir. WALHI engages in public awareness raising on environmental issues with religious figures from all major Indonesian faiths including Christians and Muslims but certainly does not associate with any radical religious movements, especially those that advocate violence.

In the photo cited by Senator Macdonald, the religious figures he mentions are demonstrating in support of their court case alleging human rights abuses by a branch of the Indonesian police. Their court case was being heard on the same day and in the same court as a public interest environmental law civil action brought by WALHI, leading the religious figures to unilaterally link their protest to WALHI’s. The poster depicted in the photo was produced by the Forum Umat Islam and mentions WALHI’s name without permission. WALHI has requested the organisation cease from doing so in future.

Furthermore, the head of WALHI did not take part in a violent demonstration outside the US embassy as alleged by Senator Macdonald. Senator Macdonald’s comment about the head of WALHI wearing “full Islamic robes” at a demonstration is not only false, but raises concerns of religious bias and deserves an apology.

WAHLI notes that, according to its records, no attempt was made to contact WAHLI to confirm any of the facts or assertions in Senator Macdonald’s speech.

False claims of links to terrorism represent a serious escalation of the systematic attacks on civil society groups that dare to criticize the human rights and environmental performance of government and multinational corporations both in Australia and Indonesia. Claims of an “apparent alliance between radical Islamists and the Friends of the Earth” represent an attempt to discredit an organization and the individuals who are a part of it, who work towards protecting people’s rights to their natural resources and in saving the environment for future generations to come.

Jakarta, August 20, 2007

Chalid Muhammad               Nurkholis

Executive Director                National Board of WALHI                             of WALHI