House to rule on right to protest
House to rule on right to protest
JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie agreed yesterday that the
House of Representatives (DPR) would have the final say on the
government regulation in lieu of a law on "freedom of expression"
which he signed last Friday.
Minister of Information Muhammad Yunus, briefing the media
after a 5-hour cabinet meeting on political affairs and security
yesterday, said the government would submit the decree to the
House for approval within three months.
"(Only) if the regulation is rejected by the House will the
government change it," Yunus said at the Bina Graha presidential
office.
According to the 17 article regulation, a police permit is
required if a demonstration involves more than 50 people. Street
protests are also banned around the presidential palaces,
military installations, and other vital locations.
The president's decision has sparked anger among observers --
some called the regulation an infringement of the very principle
of freedom of expression.
Separately, Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces
(ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto expounded his conviction that only
a thin line divided demonstrations from rioting, which was why
regulations were necessary.
He said mass anarchy could easily be sparked off by one or two
people during large demonstrations.
"At present, demonstrations in Indonesia are among the most
unregulated in the world because the number of participants or
location is not restricted in any way," he said before attending
the cabinet meeting.
The general said there was no nation in the world which had
absolute freedom.
Quoting the Constitution, he said: "The freedom to assemble
and to express verbal and written opinion is regulated by the
law."
Wiranto further noted that in recent demonstrations it was
unclear who the leaders were and what their demands were.
Democracy
Separately, human rights activists again demanded that the
government revoke the regulation, saying it hampered
democratization.
Human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the regulation was
against the principles of human rights, which were guaranteed by
the 1945 Constitution and a number of international treaties and
conventions.
He also objected to Minister of Justice Muladi's recent
statement that the United Nations declaration on human rights
allowed the observance of human rights to be subject to national
laws.
"The (declaration) enables the regulation of human rights
within national legal systems, not in the context of restricting
them but as way of reaffirming them," Todung said.
"I demand the House reject the regulation. Otherwise this will
represent a setback and a sin committed by this regime toward the
principles of human rights," he said.
The same call was made by members of the respected Indonesian
Legal Aid Foundation.
"The decree is clearly part of the government's attempt to
restrict the freedom of expression," M.M. Billah from the
Community for Participatory Social Management, a division of the
foundation, said in a statement delivered at a media briefing
yesterday.
The group also criticized the government for not involving the
House and the public before issuing the decree.
"The way the regulation was issued was government trickery to
prevent public debate," the statement said, further accusing
President B.J. Habibie's administration of employing an approach
similar to former president Soeharto's administration, which is
notorious for quashing freedom of expression in the name of
stability.
A member of the National Commission on Human Rights,
Koesparmono Irsan, said from Bandung in West Java that he
regretted the regulation had been issued by the government while
the House was in recess. (prb/rms/byg/43)