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)