Law versus reality
Law versus reality
The rowdy demonstrations which tens of thousands of university
students managed to stage in Jakarta and elsewhere on Wednesday
despite elaborate security precautions must have looked to many
like a deliberate act of defiance against President B.J.
Habibie's five-month old government. After all, the students
staged their protests simultaneously in Jakarta and several other
big cities scarcely a week after the President signed into law a
bill on the freedom of expression.
This new law, though less restrictive than a presidential
decree it replaces, nevertheless puts certain limits on street
rallies as a means of expression by making them subject to a
number of requirements, one of them being that organizers of
street demonstrations notify the authorities of their intentions
at least three days in advance.
From the very beginning, Habibie's attempts to control an
already chaotic situation by putting the lid on unruly protests
has met with considerable opposition. That there is a need for
him to try to maintain order and stability in this crisis-wracked
country is beyond question. But the President, still struggling
with problems of credibility and legitimacy five months after his
constitutionally debatable installation, has found it hard to
manage the country while people simultaneously continue to
question his capability to resolve the crisis.
Many would have preferred to have seen him respond to the
challenge and calm the situation by initiating the economic,
political and social reforms that most analysts regard as
necessary to correct the afflictions built up over the past 32
years of misrule that have rendered the county incapable of
responding to the emergencies of the present. Instead, the
President took the nation by surprise by issuing a decree, called
the Decree on the Freedom of Expression, that severely restrained
citizens' constitutional rights in this particular respect. To
his critics, the measures the seemed half-hearted and
ineffectual.
Amid all the furor which the rather absurd decree sparked --
the news media, for example, were required to obtain government
approval for their news articles, at least three days before
publication -- the government backtracked and withdrew the
controversial regulation. In its stead it submitted a bill to the
House of Representatives. This was the draft which the House
passed in record time after only 20 days of deliberations.
In all fairness, as mentioned above, it must be said that the
new law -- officially labeled Law No.9/1998 -- is a good deal
more democratic than the decree it replaces. For example, street
demonstrations as a form of public expression are allowed and no
official permits are required. However, the names of those to be
held responsible for maintaining the orderly behavior of
participants have to be listed with the authorities.
Many analysts regard such requirements -- reasonable as they
may be under "normal", peaceful circumstances -- as impractical
to supervise under the currently prevailing crisis conditions.
One failing is that the new law appears to be neglect to take
into account the circumstance that is likely to encourage more
protests: the persistent lack of confidence in Habibie's
government, its political agenda, and hence its legislative
products. This, is exacerbated by the fact that our present
national legislature does not represent the true aspirations of
the population, having been elected in the heavily rigged 1997
general election.
Thus it seems that we may soon be witnessing more protests,
more friction and more clashes until a fair and honest general
election can be held to give the nation a legislature and a
government that truly represents the aspirations of the majority
of the people.