Gathering permits for NU rival board questioned

Gathering permits for NU rival board questioned

JAKARTA (JP): Observers are divided in their opinions on how well police handled the recent congress by dissenters of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem organization.

Legal expert Andi Muis at the Hasanuddin University in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, welcome the police decision to "allow" the gathering to proceed on Wednesday without significant interruption, although it did not have a permit.

"It showed that the authorities are becoming more open and tolerant gathering without permits," he said. "This is an encouraging development."

Andi, however, said that the police stance could also be interpreted as an inconsistency.

Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, however, was less warm. His organization has been very outspoken in its campaign against the government policy which requires people to apply for permits before holding any gathering.

The fact that the dissenters were able to hold the gathering even without a permit was no cause for rejoicing yet, he pointed out.

"The police have indeed acted in accordance with a newly- issued decree requesting meeting organizers to simply notify the authorities before holding events," he said.

However, "there's no guarantee that if other organizations, such as YLBHI or the independent labor union SBSI, wished to hold similar gatherings in this way, they would be able to do so," he said.

A group of NU members led by Abu Hasan held an extraordinary congress here on Wednesday and established a rival executive board. Abu, who lost the chairmanship race to incumbent chairman Abdurrahman Wahid, said he did not need a permit, and only notified the police of his plans.

Some of the controversy surrounding the gathering focused on how Abu could have proceeded with his plan without a police permit, and on whether it reflected the government's ambiguity over the conflict in the 30-million strong organization.

National Police Chief Banurusman Astrosemitro said the police will question the organizers of the extraordinary congress. He also said the police, in accordance with the new decree, could not just disperse the meeting.

The new regulation stipulates that police may disperse gatherings only if they find violations, he pointed out.

"We could only wait because the organizers said they were only having an informal meeting, not holding a congress," Banurusman was quoted by Media Indonesia as saying yesterday.

Banurusman also said that the police have twice refused to grant permission for Abu Hasan to hold a congress or conference. Abu later amended his request for permit and, making use of the issuance of the decree earlier this month, only notified the police of the planned gathering.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier stated that it would not tolerate Abu Hasan's group if "they went too far".

During the gathering at the Haj Dormitory in Pondok Gede, East Jakarta, on Wednesday, however, the Post observed that there were attempts by the police to persuade the organizers to stop the meeting.

Some afternoon programs were indeed canceled, but the organizers later continued the meeting and held the extraordinary congress in the evening.

Some police officers in the gathering venue admitted that they were at a loss as to how to react to the meeting, and were forced to just turn a blind eye to it.

A number of members of the House of Representatives also questioned the police stance on the meeting. "This will confuse the public," Andi Matalatta of the Golkar faction was quoted by Media Indonesia as saying.

Oka Mahendra, also of Golkar, expressed astonishment because the police have not acted in accordance with the existing regulations. "The public would not have expected anything if only the police had not promised to take firm action if the organizers proceeded with the congress," Oka said. (swe)