Government bans not lawful: Rights body

Government bans not lawful: Rights body

JAKARTA (JP): The Secretary General of the National Commission
on Human Rights said yesterday that the government's recent bans
on people making public speeches and bans on seminars and
cultural performances are illegal.

"We cannot prohibit a person from speaking or expressing
views, or an organization from holding a gathering," Baharuddin
Lopa told reporters when asked to contribute to the current
debate on the government's policy on gathering permits.

Lopa said the 1945 Constitution guarantees people the right to
express their views and to gather as well as to associate.

The government could not prevent people from voicing their
opinions even though it might know in advance what they would
say, he said.

This applies in cases of seminars, he said. "If the speaker
makes remarks that offend the government or has an impact on
national stability, only then the government could act."

Lopa made the remarks after attending a hearing with House of
Representatives' Commission III, which oversees law.

The government has announced that it is reviewing its policy
on the issuance of gathering permits. The policy has come under
scrutiny lately after a number of seminars and cultural
performances were either banned or broken up by the police. At
other times, the government banned certain vocal critics of the
government from addressing seminars.

The debate has already produced some results. The Ministry of
Education and Culture has announced that academic seminars no
longer requires permits, but attendance should be limited to
academic circles.

Lopa said the current review must ensure that the policy is
consistent with the 1945 Constitution. "Freedom of speech is the
soul of a democratic life," he said.

Joining in the debate yesterday was Muladi, a legal expert
from the Diponegoro University in Semarang and also a member of
the National Commission on Human Rights, who said that the policy
on permits for gatherings is another form of "censorship" that
should be abolished completely.

"Freedom of speech and expression are basic principles of
human rights," he said in Semarang yesterday.

He concurred with Lopa's view that the police could only act
after a violation has occurred and not before.

Muladi, who is also rector of Diponegoro University, said
article 510 of the Criminal Code, which is used by the government
to bar or break up gatherings, is something which Indonesia
inherited from the Dutch legal system. "The article should simply
be overruled without having to wait for the introduction of the
new code."

He cautioned the police on the issue, especially when it
involved foreign speakers.

Earlier this month, the police in Jakarta broke up a
discussion on Islam and politics in Indonesia that featured
Robert William Hefner, an anthropologist from Boston University.
Hefner was questioned for several hours before he was released.

"The treatment Hefner received is a sensitive issue on human
rights," Muladi said, adding that the freedom of speech is ruled
in the International Bill of Human Rights. (imn/har)