House opposes raids against leftist books
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives gave a moral boost on Tuesday to groups of people who have defended their right to read and write books on communism, Marxism, or Leninism.
Receiving hundreds of students and activists from the Alliance for Freedom to Think and Speak (AKBB), House Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar and House Commission II for home and legal affairs deputy chairman Hamdan Zoelva expressed support for their cause.
Muhaimin and Hamdan termed the planned removal of leftist books an anarchic action that ought to be stopped.
They noted that only security officers had the right to conduct a raid.
"We all agree that searching for and removing books by any group is an anarchic action that violates the regulations. We condemn such action. The people should learn to trust the law enforcement process," Muhaimin said.
Hamdan added that although he was against the production of leftist books, he totally disagreed with the plans to search for and remove them.
"Although, personally I reject the production of books that promote communism, we should teach people to respect the law, as it would be very dangerous if people continued to take the law into their own hands," Hamdan said at the meeting.
He added that the House will ask for a consultation meeting with the National Police chief concerning the threats and planned raids.
Hundreds of students, joined by noted scholar Franz Magnis Suseno and noted women activists Ratna Sarumpaet and Jajang C. Noer, staged rallies here, protesting the planned raids.
They started the rally in front of the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta, and then moved to the House compound to seek support from the House.
Several organizations also joining the rally included the Muhammadiyah youth organization and the students' executive board of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Institute of Islamic Studies.
The controversy over "leftist" books started early this month when a group of people called the Islam Youth Movement (GPI) threatened to conduct raids against those books on May 20 to commemorate National Awakening day.
To anticipate the threat, many major book stores across the country removed those books from their shelves and the police in several provinces even "helped" by collecting them from the stores for "safekeeping".
However, so far the police have yet to conduct any action against those launching the threats, even though this has caused anxiety among the people. (dja)