A dawn of freedom
A dawn of freedom
The government's plan to free the public from the obligatory
police permit for gatherings looks like a 50th anniversary
present for the populace. But the truth is deeper than that. The
government's positive gesture, which was announced on Tuesday
after a limited cabinet meeting chaired by Coordinating Minister
for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman, heralds an
increase in respect for the people.
By abolishing the rule, the government is actually returning a
right the Dutch colonial administration seized from Indonesians.
It ends the no less ugly and rigid situation Indonesian law
enforcers perpetuated.
Once the new policy is implemented at the end of this year,
the painful experience of being deprived of the Constitutional
right to gather and express views will be a thing of the past. No
longer will Indonesians have to face police wielding the power to
defend the antiquated law. No longer will the much-trumpeted
stability-first campaign, in which success and bombast are
simultaneously sung, be upheld by an unconstitutional law.
In the effort to deny the people's constitutional rights, the
officers have pulled Indonesians towards their most self-
destructive and self-defeating worst. The law enforcers succeeded
in making the organizing committees of scientific seminars and
cultural performances succumb to an arbitrary colonial law which
is nothing but a manifestation of constitutional lawlessness.
The tragic irony is that the Indonesian police's actions
mimic the colonial officers' effort to stop gatherings of
Indonesian nationalists on charges of pushing the public toward
independence.
The implementation of the controversial law not only confused
many people inside and outside the administration, but was also
based on disrespect for the country's citizens. The too
principled and strong-minded officers have always worked on the
rationale of presumption of guilt until proven innocent in court,
instead of the long-respected principle of presumption of
innocence.
Their acts have killed the people's creativity. The pain
silently endured by our educated elite has resulted in public
distrust of the government's sincerity toward its democratization
campaign.
By turning this dark page of our history, in which democratic
values collided head-on with the arrogance of power, the
government has apparently concluded it is not wise to pride
itself as being the source of this backward society. Evidently,
the authorities have finally heard the people's lament of good
virtues lost and the dirge that conditions are still far from
what their leaders promised in 1945.
The government, especially Minister Soesilo, must also have
grasped that the world has changed significantly and Indonesia
will be left behind if it remains unmoved by the increasing
demands for basic rights. Their realization will surely lift this
nation's reputation in the international community.
The new horizon in the domain of political openness will allow
Indonesians to grasp for broader freedoms.
The bitter experience of the gathering permit affair also
illustrates that the government still has much work to do to
foster public relations. Many civil servants seem to be in need
of a crash course on sensitivity towards the public's concerns.
This reality is woeful for a nation that just celebrated 50 years
of freedom from colonial control.