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.