Haris Azhar (born July 10, 1975) is an Indonesian human rights activist. He served as the coordinator of the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) during 2010-2016. He is also a founder of the Jakarta-based

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

, Lokataru.

Biography

Haris Azhar was born in Jakarta. He has ethnic backgrounds of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

, Banjarese, and Makassarese. During his undergraduate years at

Trisakti University Trisakti University (Usakti) is Indonesia's largest private university located in Jakarta, Indonesia. Trisakti University, is the only private university in Indonesia which was established by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia. Founde ...

, Haris was active in student organizations and campus activism. Especially in the final years of the Suharto regime in 1997-1998, Haris joined the student demonstrations to demand the resignation of President

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

. Haris graduated from Trisakti University in 1999. Later, he received the Master of Art from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

in 2010.

Activism

Haris is known for his activism through a Jakarta-based NGO, Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) since 1999. Initially, he played a role in the division of advocacy, and then became a member of the Bureau of Supervision and Research, and later served as the head of the Bureau of Research, Investigation, and Database. Since 2010 he was promoted to the coordinator of the organization. He served the position until 2016. Notably, during his KontraS years, Haris made a public statement on the alleged involvement of the

Indonesian Armed Forces , founded = as the ('People's Security Forces') , current_form = , disbanded = , branches = , headquarters = Cilangkap, Jakarta , website = , commander-in-chief = Joko Widodo ...

and

Indonesian National Police '' , mottotranslated = (Serving the Nation) , formed = , preceding1 = , dissolved = , superseding = , employees = 440,000 (2020) , volunteers = , budget = , nongovernment ...

in drug trafficking business by the convicted drug trader Freddy Budiman. As a result of this statement, Azhar was reported to police for alleged defamation on August 2, 2016. After finishing his term at KontraS, he founded a new NGO called Lokataru, also an NGO for human rights advocacy. He co-founded Lokataru together with Eryanto Nugroho, Sri Suparyati, Nurkholis Hidayat, Atnike Sigiro, Iwan Nurdin, and Mufti Makarim. Since then, he has been serving as the executive director of the organization. Lokataru is active in making public statements towards incidents related to human rights and also providing legal assistance to the victim of human rights violations. Lokataru provided legal assistance to some high-profile clients, for example,

Rocky Gerung Rocky Gerung (born 20 January 1959) is an Indonesian philosopher, academic and public intellectual. Early life Rocky began studying at the University of Indonesia in 1979. He first entered the department of political science, which at that tim ...

. In September 2021, Haris and his fellow KontraS activist Fatia Maulidiyanti were reported by

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan ( EYD: ''Luhut Binsar Panjaitan'', born 28 September 1947) is an Indonesian politician, businessman and retired four-star Army general, serving as Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment since October ...

, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investments Affairs, to the police for alleged defamation. Luhut filed a police report to the Jakarta Metropolitan Police after Haris and Fatia made comments in Haris' YouTube video regarding Luhut's affiliation with the mining businesses in

Intan Jaya Regency Intan Jaya Regency is one of the regencies (''kabupaten'') in the Indonesian province of Central Papua Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Tengah) is an Indonesian province located in the central region of W ...

Papua Province Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri. It is bordered by the ...

. Luhut's legal action against the activists was slammed by the academics as an assault to the

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

.Luhut reporting activists for defamation is another blow to freedom of expression
''Indonesia at Melbourne''. Retrieved October 13, 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Azhar, Haris Living people Indonesian activists 1975 births