No RI laws have political bias, say legal experts<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Experts said yesterday there was no political
\njudicature in Indonesia despite people being persecuted for
\nallegedly spreading hatred against the state.<\/p>\n
University of Indonesia law professor Loebby Loqman and lawyer
\nLuhut M.P. Pangaribuan were of the same opinion that no laws were
\npolitically bias.<\/p>\n
But if a person was accused of violating the Criminal Code by
\nsowing hatred against the state, then he was considered to have
\ncommitted a political crime, Loebby told a seminar on political
\njudiciary and law.<\/p>\n
The seminar also featured legislator Oka Mahendra, human
\nrights campaigners, Baharuddin Lopa and Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto,
\nand political observer Arbi Sanit.<\/p>\n
Loebby said there was confusion about the term "political
\ncrime". He said that, under the subversion law, all political
\nactions could be branded as crimes and the perpetrators could
\ntherefore be tried.<\/p>\n
He said the attorney general classified an action a political
\ncrime whenever it had political background, whereas the law did
\nnot discern whether an action had political or non-political
\nmotives.<\/p>\n
Despite the absence of a clear-cut definition on what
\nconstituted a political crime, "in practice (the authorities)
\nattempt to solve political conflicts through the court," he said.<\/p>\n
"Legally, there's no such thing as political judicature.<\/p>\n
"The judicature is only the law courts," Luhut said.<\/p>\n
But sociologically "a legal process does not rely only on...
\nformal legal institutions... it, instead, is influenced by (other
\nfactors such as) political, economic and cultural powers," he
\nquoting legal expert Satjipto Rahardjo as saying.<\/p>\n
On "political judicature" under the New Order administration,
\nLuhut said people were mistaken if they expected the courts to
\nact as the last bastion of justice.<\/p>\n
Because "neutral and non-discriminatory laws, in their
\nimplementation, have different results than what's promised in
\ntheir text," he said.<\/p>\n
Luhut said that people subjected to political judicature had
\nonly been trying to exercise their constitutional rights at a
\ntime when those in power wished to retain their policies "without
\nevaluation from outside of the system".<\/p>\n
He said that only student activists and members of non-
\ngovernmental organizations used to be subjected to political
\njudicature. But, more recently, political judicature had caught a
\nwide range of people including retired servicemen and
\nlegislators.<\/p>\n
"In short, everyone who is prodemocracy has become a potential
\ntarget of political judicature," he said.<\/p>\n
He said some laws were frequently exploited for political
\njudicature. They included the subversion law and the law of
\ndefamation against the President and Vice President.<\/p>\n
Baharuddin Lopa said that a modern country was meant to be
\ncharacterized by democratization, law enforcement and prosperity.<\/p>\n
The subversion law should be abolished, he said and cited
\nseveral shortcomings of the law that had often been used to
\nprosecute government critics. (05)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/no-ri-laws-have-political-bias-say-legal-experts-1447893297",
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