Experts lament trend to sue government critics

Experts lament trend to sue government critics

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legal experts lamented the recent trend among central and local
government officials for reporting anyone who criticizes them to
police for alleged slander, saying that it was harming the
country's attempts to develop good governance.

Anyone is entitled to file a lawsuit for slander, however
Hendardi, the chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
Rights Association (PBHI), said on Friday that the officials have
manipulated the law to maintain power.

"They want to show the people that they support legal
supremacy. But the problem is, it's not real legal supremacy as
our judiciary may still be influenced by the people in power," he
said on Friday.

Hendardi added that government officials must be able to
consider public criticism as supportive input of their
performance.

"They are supposedly the peoples' servants. Criticism is very
healthy in a democratic government," he said.

Instead of getting angry with the critics, the government
officials should be able to determine whether the criticism of
their performance is true, and if so, they should seek to prevent
similar shortcomings in the future.

"The officials must be able to explain controversial issues to
the public, instead of turning it around and accusing the
criticizers of a crime," Hendardi said.

Rudy Satrio, a criminal law expert from the University of
Indonesia, agreed and added that the moves by government
officials to sue critics was "excessive."

"They don't know how to separate themselves as individuals or
as a part of a government," he commented, saying that the
government should be grateful to have citizens who pay attention
to the government.

Rudy lashed out at police and prosecutors for not properly
investigating controversial issues that the public points out,
some of which contain allegations of corruption. The police
prefer to go after the alleged slanderers.

There have been a spate of such incidents in the country
lately.

On Nov. 18, lawyers for Manpower and Transmigration Minister
Jacob Nuwa Wea formally accused a researcher from Indonesian
Corruption Watch, Danang Widoyoko, of slandering the minister.

Danang earlier reported Jacob to the police for abuse. The
series of incidents began earlier this month when, as guests on a
live television talk show, Jacob grabbed Danang's head and
screamed coarse language at him after the researcher alleged on
the show that Jacob appointed a group of insurance firms to
represent migrant workers without a transparent bidding process.
However, investigators are not looking into Jacob's possible
irregularities with the firms, and it remains to be seen if they
will move on the abuse charge.

The recent burning of the courthouse by an enraged mob in
Larantuka was incited by a court's guilty verdict against a local
priest, who alleged that the regent was misusing budget funds.

The regent reported the priest to the police for slander. The
police and prosecutors proceeded with the slander case and the
court sentenced him. However, the priest's allegation over the
regent's corruption was not even checked out by any legal
authority. The public was outraged and the court buildings were
razed on Saturday.

Last year, President Megawati Soekarnoputri sued Rakyat
Merdeka newspaper for slander as the paper published several
articles criticizing her policies.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung also reported the same paper to
the police for slander as the daily published a cartoon of him
which he deemed offensive.