House to debate bill on protests

JAKARTA (JP): The government bill on freedom of expression, submitted in spite of massive public protests, passed its second reading on Thursday.

The minority United Development Party (PPP) was the sole opposition and its proposal to reject the bill was quickly defeated by the Armed Forces (ABRI) and ruling Golkar factions. The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) said it neither opposed nor supported the reading of the bill.

As the members deliberated the bill's fate, about 500 people staged a noisy but peaceful protest outside the house complex.

A heavy presence of riot police ensured that the protesters were kept far enough away so that their noise was barely heard in the room where the plenary meeting was held.

The bill, drafted by the Ministry of Defense and Security, proposes to regulate street demonstrations.

It seeks to ban protests near the presidential palaces, other strategic locations and places of worship.

It also proposes that the police must be informed of any demonstration involving up to 50 people, while protests involving more than 50 people must have a police permit.

Another clause in the bill says that broadcast and print media must obtain police permission to report demonstrations.

Because of the emergency way that the bill was presented, the document would become a regulation in lieu of a law if passed by the House.

The government has insisted that the regulation is necessary to maintain peace and order. It has pointed out that similar regulations already exist in other countries, including the United States.

PPP faction spokesman Djuhad Mahja told the plenary meeting on Thursday that the government's proposal went against the 1945 Constitution which guaranteed freedom of expression.

It also ran counter to the current reform spirit, he said.

Djuhad warned that if the bill was passed, it could create new problems. He feared that the police could arbitrarily reject all requests for demonstrations by invoking national security concerns.

"This has the potential to violate people's human rights," he said.

The government should draft a proper law rather than take a shortcut to introduce a regulation in lieu of a law, he said, adding that his faction would appreciate the efforts to restore stability if the government followed the proper channels.

PDI faction spokesman Y.B. Wiyanjono said that while his party did not reject or support the bill, it agreed with the government that there was a need to improve forms of public expressions.

The faction also agreed that the bill was not intended to restrict, let alone curb, people's democratic rights to express their opinions through demonstrations.

"Stability is necessary, but demonstrations should also be accepted as part of democracy," he said.

The Golkar faction said it fully agreed on the need to regulate demonstrations, saying that uncontrollable protests were undermining government efforts to resolve the economic and political crisis.

"Many massive demonstrations breached the acceptable limits, some even turning into riots that led to casualties in lives and property," Golkar faction spokesman Ridwan Sani said.

The PPP and PDI factions disputed Article 8 requiring the media to obtain a police permit to report on demonstrations.

Djuhad and Wiyanjono said the clause could be seen as an attempt by the government to impose media censorship.

But Minister of Justice Muladi, who represented the government at the plenary meeting, told reporters later that Article 8 was not intended to be "preventive censorship".

He suggested the House factions reword the article to prevent misunderstandings, adding that if many people still did not feel comfortable, the article could simply be dropped.

The deafening protests outside the House compound, staged by an alliance of 18 non-governmental organizations, did not have any impact on the deliberations.

The protesters called on the factions to reject the bill and to concentrate instead on ratifying various international conventions that guaranteed people's rights, including the convention on civilian and political rights.

An offer by members of House Commission I for security, defense, law, politics and information to meet with six representatives of the demonstrators was turned down; the demonstrators insisted that they all be allowed to enter.

They later agreed to disperse peacefully. (rms)