Anti-subversion law

Anti-subversion law

After, at the end of October last year, it announced that it was studying the Anti-subversion Law, the National Commission on Human Rights last Tuesday recommended that the government rescind that piece of legislation.

The Anti-subversion Law -- or Law No.11/PNPS/1963 on the Repression of Subversive Activities -- is among our most popular products of legislation, mainly because is so often opposed and made the subject of polemics. This law is one of the legal products inherited from the Old Order.

The very context of its birth gives the Anti-subversion Law a dubious flavour. The law had the clear intent of safeguarding the security of the state at a time when a climate of political emergency prevailed. For this reason the law can only be properly used in a context of political emergency. It lost its relevance due to the success of the economic development efforts which the New Order has achieved under conditions of political stability.

To make matters worse, the Anti-subversion Law is extremely elastic in its definition of subversive activities. Our experience of the past 30 years shows that this particular law can be used to tackle all kinds of cases and serve all kinds of purposes. The people who have been prosecuted under it include manufacturers of fake pesticides and coup conspirators.

The elastic nature of the Anti-subversion law brings with it yet another implication. It provides an opportunity for practicing judicial inequality and to subjugate the law to the momentary interests of those in power.

The problem is further aggravated by the fact that this elastic law provides for severe sanctions. The maximum penalty for subversion under this law is either death or life imprisonment.

The recommendation made by the National Commission of Human Rights thus reflects a real existing demand for a better administration of our social-political life.

-- Republika, Jakarta