Govt urged to abolish permit rules

Govt urged to abolish permit rules

JAKARTA (JP): Nine non-governmental organizations, led by the
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute and the Indonesian Forum for
Environment, yesterday urged the House of Representatives to
abolish all laws which require people to obtain official permits
for various activities.

The NGOs, in a petition sent to the House, said the time has
come for the authorities in Indonesia to change the way they
treat their citizens.

"They should no longer use permit regulations as their
political tools to control the activities of the people. On the
contrary, they should give people ample room to be creative and
dynamic," read the petition.

Other NGOs which signed the petition were the Indonesian Anti-
Nuclear Society, the Social Information and Legal Counsel
Channel, the Village Development Union, Women's Solidarity, the
Indonesian Rainbow Foundation, the International Forum for
Indonesia Development, and the Adil Sejahtera Forum Legal Aid and
Protection Foundation.

The nine NGOs are active in diverse fields, but they have one
thing in common: They have all fallen victim to what they called
arbitrary use of the rules on gathering permits.

"The various bans (on gatherings) that have occurred in the
past have been detrimental as they denied people access to
information that the gatherings would have given them," according
to the petition, the latest contribution to the debate after the
government announced that it was reviewing its policy on
gathering permits last week.

The NGOs said that last year there were 18 events that were
banned, refused permits or broken up by the government. This
year, the count has already reached 16. "This shows how deep the
permit policy has become embedded in our political life."

"The public have not only adapted to the policy, they have
become a very part of the process. It has reached the point where
people feel that some events would be prone to disturbances
unless they had official permission."

"The policy requiring people to obtain permits has left a deep
impression that the people cannot discipline themselves to run
their affairs in an orderly fashion. It also leaves the
impression that only the authorities can maintain order."

Besides the abolition of the permit policy, the NGOs demanded
a review of various legislations, including five political laws
enacted in 1985 that have been the used as the basis of the
current political system, and the 1963 anti-subversion law.

It also called for the abolition of the government regulation
requiring newspapers and magazines to obtain publishing permits
from the government, because it is inconsistent with the spirit
of the Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech.

The policy on gathering permits was discussed at a limited
cabinet meeting led by Coordinating Minister of Political Affairs
and Security Soesilo Soedarman yesterday. It was Soesilo who last
week disclosed that he has commissioned a team in his office to
review the regulations on gathering permits.

On a separate occasion, Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo
Widodo yesterday defended the gathering permit policy, stressing
that the regulation is consistent with the Criminal Code.

Dibyo said police have a duty to ensure that seminars do not
discuss subjects that are "deviant".

He added that in the case of the police decision to break up a
meeting organized by Yayasan Indonesia Baru last week, the
officers only moved in when the questions became "deviant".
(emb/bsr)