Gatherings still need permit: Police
Gatherings still need permit: Police
JAKARTA (JP): National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman
Astrosemitro yesterday defended the policy of requiring people to
obtain a police permit for any gathering, saying that it is
designed to prevent untoward incidents.
"We don't want a fire to happen without having taken proper
precautions beforehand," he said during a hearing with Commission
I of the House of Representatives, which deals with security
affairs, yesterday.
He was responding to suggestions by scholars and politicians
that rather than barring people from gathering on the grounds of
security, police should take action only if such gatherings get
out of control.
"We don't want the Malari incident of 1974 and the prolonged
disputes in the Batak Toba Protestant Church (HKBP) to happen
again," Banurusman said.
The Malari incident was a massive riot in Jakarta in January
1974 that had its origins as student anti-government
demonstrations which got out of control and turned into a carnage
of looting and arson of some of the capital's shopping centers.
The HKBP dispute is a more current event in which conflicting
camps of the church have been locked in clashes, sometimes
physically.
During the hearing yesterday, legislator Marcel Beding of the
Indonesian Democratic Party, urged the authorities to abolish the
policy of requiring people to obtain police permits every time
they want to hold a gathering.
Marcel said the authorities should not ban a proposed public
gathering if it had not occurred yet. "If the meeting is later
found to be in violation of the law, the organizers or the
speakers could be charged with criminal articles of the Criminal
Code," he said.
By law, any gathering involving more than five people must
have a permit from the authorities. Police have, in the past,
turned down a number of requests for permission to hold seminars,
public debates and even cultural performances, on the grounds
that they had the potential to undermine national stability.
There have also been occasions where police have broken up
gatherings that were being held without permits.
Banurusman said the police is the final agency that issues the
permits but they are coordinating with other government agencies
on the issue.
He said police work with the State Intelligence Coordinating
Body in considering a gathering which involves foreign speakers
and with the Armed Forces Intelligence Body for domestic
speakers, and the Indonesian Council of Ulemas for religious
gatherings.
Police have to be very careful in issuing a permit for a
public gathering as it holds the responsibility for the security
of the gathering. But if organizers of a gathering meet all the
requirements, then there is no reason for the police not to issue
a permit, he added.
The government has announced that it is currently reviewing
the policy regulating gathering permits. (imn)