A matter of rights

A matter of rights

In past years anyone who was branded as a member or supporter
of the PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) had to face death,
whether physically or socially. The PKI mark was also a most
effective weapon in the hands of those who were in power to
dispose of anyone who differed in their opinions.

Now, after 34 years, that stigma is beginning to fade.
Legislators in the House of Representatives discussing new
political draft laws have decided to allow relatives of former
members of the PKI, formerly barred from the legislature, to be
elected. Finally, the political stigma that lasted for more than
three decades is being exorcised.

Indonesian society at present is entering a new era of
enlightenment. There is a very strong feeling that the present
reading of our history needs to be totally corrected. As part of
this correction, the institutionalized and doctrinaire
instruction of our Pancasila national ideology has been
discontinued.

After the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, animosity
among communities of people on the basis of ideology no longer
exists. Capitalism, liberalism and socialism now coexist as open
and tolerant ideologies. It would therefore be most inhumane for
us to use the Pancasila ideology to which we subscribe as a wedge
to create feelings of hostility towards other ideologies,
including communism; or worse, to use Pancasila as a verbal-
ideological instrument to incarcerate our own fellow citizens.

The extension of political rights to family members of ex-PKI
members and supporters must be seen as a realization of their
human rights, not as an ideological inconsistency. The use of
ideology to coerce one's own citizens leads to totalitarianism,
while a complete negation of it leads to anarchy.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta