Gathrering permits abolished

JAKARTA (JP): Most gatherings, including those that are political in nature, will soon no longer require permission from the authorities.

The government announced yesterday that it is abolishing the permit requirements for virtually all kinds of gatherings. In many cases, notification to the police will suffice.

However, for demonstrations and other activities in the streets which could disturb public order, official permits will still be required.

The measures were announced at the end of a limited cabinet meeting chaired by Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman.

"The policy concerning the gathering of people at a certain time, at a certain place, has been scrapped," Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman told reporters after the meeting.

Oetojo said that the new measures would only become effective once the government had issued the procedural guidelines, which he said should be completed "by the end of the year."

Gatherings that are essentially non-political, such as religious, social and cultural meetings, will be freed from the requirement that the organizers obtain a permit from the authorities, Oetojo said. In the case of such non-political gatherings, even notification of the authorities will not be mandatory, he added.

Police will have to be notified about gatherings which are political in nature and about scientific seminars, he said.

The government's policy of requiring people to obtain permits for any gathering involving more than five people has been widely criticized over the past year as stifling democracy.

The policy has empowered the police, as the last institution in the chain of officials who must grant permission for gatherings, to prevent meetings from taking place or to break them up. This year alone, the government has turned down at least five permit requests and no less than 26 events have been broken up on the basis that they lacked the necessary permit.

A number of cultural performances and some seminars which featured staunch critics of the government have also fallen victim to the policy.

In June Soesilo announced the formation of a team to review the policy on gathering permits.

Soesilo, who was present at yesterday's press conference, said the new move had been made out of consideration for the people's civic rights.

The guidelines should be clear and easy to comply with, he said, representing full respect for the freedom of association and assembly guaranteed by Article 28 of the 1945 Constitution.

Oetojo said organizers of a political gathering or a scientific seminar would be given a receipt when they notified the police.

Some of the details of the new policy remain unclear.

The minister was unable to say whether the organizers of a gathering should inform government agencies other than the police, notably the Home Ministry's Directorate General for Social and Political Affairs, which under the existing policy is involved in the decision to grant or not to grant permission for a gathering.

Under the current policy, gathering organizers have to go through at least three different government agencies in order to obtain permission to hold a gathering.

The policy, which has been applied indiscriminately to all kinds of activities, is based on Article 510 of the of Criminal Code, which stipulates that people holding a public party or a parade on a public street must seek permission from the police.

Oetojo said that past requirements were due to unclear guidelines about implementation of that law, resulting in multiple interpretations and confusion to authorities in the field.

He said that the restrictions contained in Article 510 would continue to apply in the interests of public order.

"Permits will only be required for activities concerning public parties, gatherings on public streets and parades," he said.

Already in June the government announced that it was waiving permit requirements for scientific seminars held within the confines of university campuses. Permission is now to be sought from the university rectors concerned, rather than from the police.

The June reform received mixed reactions, with some critics branding it "superficial and ineffective." (mds)