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