Govt slammed for law on freedom of expression<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Observers have slammed the government for
\nissuing a regulation on \"freedom of expression\", calling the move
\nundemocratic and antireform.<\/p>\n
The critics also demanded that President B.J. Habibie call off
\nthe four-chapter, 17-article No. 2\/1998 regulation in lieu of a
\nlaw on freedom of expression. The decree says, among other
\nthings, that a police permit is required for a street
\ndemonstration if it involves more than 50 people. It also
\nprohibits street protests on public holidays or at night.<\/p>\n
The critics agreed that if the government refused to cancel
\nthe decree, the House of Representatives must, at the earliest
\nopportunity, fight it.<\/p>\n
According to the 1945 Constitution, a regulation in lieu of a
\nlaw can be issued by the government under \"grave\" circumstances
\nbut must be dropped if the House rejects it.<\/p>\n
The Council for People's Mandate (MARA), led by popular
\nopposition figure Amien Rais, regretted Habibie's decision to
\nissue what it called such an undemocratic decree.<\/p>\n
\"There are only two alternatives left now; either he calls it
\noff or the House of Representatives should rule it out,\" lawyer
\nAlbert Hasibuan of the council told journalists here yesterday.<\/p>\n
Satjipto Rahardjo, who is a colleague of Hasibuan at the
\nNational Commission on Human Rights, warned the government not to
\napply regulations which might shackle freedom of expression.<\/p>\n
\"The Constitution guarantees freedom of expression. So this
\ndecree should not supersede the Constitution,\" he was quoted as
\nsaying by Antara yesterday.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the newly established People's Awakening Party
\n(PKB), Matori Abdul Djalil, also called for a review of the
\ndecree because it \"limits people's freedom of expression\".<\/p>\n
\"We do need some rules on how to express opinion in public,
\nbut not ones which limit freedom itself,\" he was quoted by Antara
\nas saying Sunday in Semarang.<\/p>\n
Hariman Siregar, a former student activist, suggested that the
\npublic ignore the regulation.<\/p>\n
\"Now, people are stronger than the state. If you can't accept
\nthe regulation, just ignore it then,\" he was quoted by Antara as
\nsaying Sunday in Semarang.<\/p>\n
Separately, politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas also branded the
\nregulation as proof of the government's ignorance of and
\ninsensitivity toward human rights.<\/p>\n
\"Demonstrations, protests, strikes are all human rights. Human
\nrights do not need regulating,\" he said in Bandung on Sunday.
\n\"What needs regulating, instead, is how a demonstration can
\nproceed orderly.\"<\/p>\n
He expressed concern that the regulation would not only
\ntrample on people's rights, but also encourage security personnel
\nto act repressively.<\/p>\n
Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights
\nAssociation (PBHI) said the regulation was a legal product
\nconceived in a unilateral and thus undemocratic manner.<\/p>\n
\"When it comes to public affairs, legal products should
\naccommodate public opinion as much as possible,\" he said in a
\nstatement made available to The Jakarta Post yesterday.<\/p>\n
The state should, in the current political climate that
\nincreasingly demands openness and democratization, accommodate
\npublic aspirations and improve the performance of democratization
\ninstruments such as the legislature, the court and the media.<\/p>\n
\"Apparently Habibie's administration still has not learned
\nthat recent explosions of people's aspirations were ... in
\nresponse to the closed and authoritarian political situation
\n(during former president Soeharto's regime),\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"The roots of this structural problem should be resolved in a
\ndemocratic manner, not by attempting to control people's freedom
\nthrough regulations,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Ban<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Minister of Justice Muladi defended the regulation
\nand said it was not meant to ban demonstrations but to prevent
\ndisorder.<\/p>\n
Muladi was quoted by Antara as saying after a meeting with
\nCoordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Feisal
\nTanjung and Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid that there
\nwere \"good effects\" of demonstrations.<\/p>\n
\"But there are also demonstrations which are abused and
\naccompanied by the destruction of facilities. It is precisely to
\nprevent such occurrences that the regulation was drafted,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The regulation would not ban demonstrations, but provide
\nrules of the game so they proceed orderly and so destruction can
\nbe prevented,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to the regulation, demonstrations cannot be carried
\nout in front of the presidential palace, places of worship,
\nmilitary installations, hospitals, harbors, airports, train or
\nland transportation stations or other vital locations.\"
\n(43\/aan\/swe)<\/p>",
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