Repression not a solution to demonstrations<\/p>\n
By Mulyana W. Kusumah<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Rallies denouncing certain government policies
\nhave been increasingly in vogue in the last few months. During
\nthe month of May alone, we witnessed various kinds of
\ndemonstrations.<\/p>\n
Last month, 200 public transportation drivers in Tangerang
\nwent on strike at the local House of Representatives to demand
\nthat the government repair the Legok road.<\/p>\n
Still in Tangerang, more than 3,000 workers from four
\ncompanies staged a demonstration to question the implementation
\nof minimum regional wage that was, in their opinion, inconsistent
\nwith government regulations.<\/p>\n
A number of labor activists from the Pusat Perjuangan Buruh
\nIndonesia (Center of Indonesian Labor Movement) were arrested by
\nwhen they read out their demands for the implementation of the
\nregional minimum wage of Rp 7,000 a day throughout Indonesia.<\/p>\n
A group calling themselves Masyarakat Hukum Indonesia
\n(Indonesian Legal Society) and led by young attorney Waskito
\nAdiwibowo, paid a visit to the Supreme Court. They demanded that
\nthe Court do its best to maintain the supremacy of the law to
\nensure a free and independent court.<\/p>\n
In May the rallies intensified. The National Commission on
\nHuman Rights received six East Timorese students who lived in
\nBandung. They complained that they had been accused of preparing
\nto stage a rally during the visit of the UN secretary-general.
\nLater, Sri Bintang Pamungkas, an outspoken House member who was
\nsacked recently, inquired at the Attorney General's office about
\nbeing ban from traveling abroad because of his alleged
\ninvolvement in an anti Indonesian-government rally in Germany.<\/p>\n
There was a mass rally of thousands of people at the U.S.
\nEmbassy over the U.S. government's veto on the Palestinian
\nResolution and a number of minor rallies in May, including a
\nstudent activist from the Indonesian Students Solidarity for
\nDemocracy who went on a hunger-strike for days to express his
\nprotest the detainment of student and labor activists.<\/p>\n
Last year, there were almost 1,200 labor strikes throughout
\nIndonesia. We also saw more people coming to the House of
\nRepresentatives and city councils to pour in their grievances.
\nThe Golkar faction recorded an increase in the number of land-
\nrelated complaints from 189 in 1993 to 215 in 1994.<\/p>\n
The Central Java military recorded in 1994 that throughout the
\nprovince and Yogyakarta, there were 82 incidents of student
\ndemonstrations, 76 incidents of labor strikes and demonstrations,
\nand four incidents of conflicts between followers of the same
\nreligion.<\/p>\n
Staging a rally at the sites where the problem occurs, in
\nfront of government offices and Houses of Representatives seems
\nto be the favorite places to express people's feeling and
\nopinions about certain socio-political events.<\/p>\n
Dismissing these demonstrations as mere efforts to create
\npolitical instability, to be regulated or repressive in the name
\nof criminal justice, is tantamount to a blatant denial of today's
\npolitical reality.<\/p>\n
Regulation for self-expression should be placed in the context
\nof the manifestation of the constitutional guarantee of the
\nfreedom to gather and to express one's opinion. Therefore, the
\nmore appropriate place for the regulation is a law or an act that
\ngoverns political participation.<\/p>\n
Such a regulation cannot possibly be separated from the
\nefforts to improve the existing political mechanism and the
\nwidening of access to political openness. Should the proposed
\nregulation on demonstrations ever be intended to provide the
\nformulas to determine criminal sanctions, it will become totally
\nredundant as these formulas are already in the Criminal Law
\n(KUHP).<\/p>\n
Resorting to repressive actions, as well as calling a
\ndemonstration a crime, is not constitutional, since demonstrating
\nis a legitimate expression of non-institutionalized political
\nparticipation. Moreover, for groups of workers, farmers or other
\nsocietal groups, demonstrating is a legal way of defending their
\nlivelihood, and protecting or demanding their basic rights.<\/p>\n
As a legal move, regulation or repression cannot possibly be
\naccomplished without neglecting the reform strategy of the
\nnational law characterized by modern law, namely, by constructing
\nthe required institutional design for a democratic and
\nconstitutional state.<\/p>\n
In this context, Indonesian law should provide the framework
\nfor a formal organizational structure that will enable political
\ninstitutions to work smoothly.<\/p>\n
It should also nurture \"normative accountability\" in the
\nprocess of political decision making, including the improvement
\nof the capacity for conflict resolution.<\/p>\n
The writer is a lecturer on sociology at University of
\nIndonesia and Executive Director at the Legal Aid Foundation
\n(YLBHI), Jakarta.<\/p>",
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