Jakarta's Plaza de Mayo
Jakarta's Plaza de Mayo
Doubtful as it may be that Jakarta's growing numbers of angry
young people will readily obey the ban which the city's
metropolitan police chief, Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman, issued
on Sunday on holding public rallies at and around the Hotel
Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, there is little
reason to mistrust the good intentions that apparently underlie
the decision.
As if to prevent any hasty protests over the order, the police
chief made it clear that the ban was issued not at the request or
instigation of any particular party for whatever hidden purpose,
but that it was intended merely to prevent the huge traffic
snarls that always accompany big public rallies in Jakarta's city
center.
Furthermore, the ban also intends to avoid clashes from
occurring between rival political or other interest groups that
could upset the smooth and peaceful procedure of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) General Session currently taking
place at Senayan, only a few kilometers to the south. The ban
would be lifted as soon as the MPR session has ended, Maj. Gen.
Noegroho said. To further placate possible critics, the general
made it clear that public rallies could still be held elsewhere
in the city, "such as around the Proclamation Monument or Blok
S," which are further removed from the city's central business
district.
Gen. Noegroho's offer of alternate sites for holding public
rallies and his promise that the ban will be lifted as soon as
the present MPR General Session is over deserves to be
appreciated. At the very least it shows that the police chief
understands the fact that public protests are as much a
legitimate part of the democratic process as the MPR General
Session itself, where some elected and nonelected representatives
of the people seem at present to be having some difficulty
getting acquainted with the workings of democracy.
The reason why students and other disenchanted members of our
society are taking their grievances and aspirations to the
streets must of course be obvious to everyone. Only a strong
concern that legislators who are presumed to serve and represent
them are oblivious to their rightful ambitions -- or worse, are
betraying them by playing self-serving political games -- can
motivate people to take their protest to the streets, braving
tear gas and rubber bullets and risking life and limb.
Young protesters, by their courageous if often reckless
actions, are serving their society no less well, and often
better, than those esteemed elected representatives in the House
of Representatives (DPR) and People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR). The duty of the police is to give those street protesters
the safeguards and protection they deserve as citizens, even
while seeing to it that their protest actions do not seriously
disturb public order.
Over the past months, the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in
Central Jakarta has become the most popular venue for mass
protests and other public rallies. It is Jakarta's answer to
London's Hyde Park or Rio de Janeiro's Plaza de Mayo. Since the
most fundamental objective of protests is to be seen and heard,
Jakartans can expect to see protests and rallies to move to other
strategic spots in the city center in the few days that are left
before the MPR winds up its session.
To forestall this, the authorities could take the proactive
measure of providing preappointed strategic venues not too far
away from the present preferred protest sites for the airing of
public views. In any case, it is important for the growth of
democracy in this country that Indonesians, whichever side of the
argument they stand on, learn to view protests not as mere public
nuisances, but as a legitimate and constitutional part of
democracy that deserves to be treated as such.