Megawati should be realistic about NGOs

Megawati should be realistic about NGOs

In her recent state address to commemorate Indonesia's
independence, President Megawati Soekarnoputri said there were
irresponsible non governmental organizations (NGOs) that needed
regulating. Smita Notosusanto of the Center for Electoral Reform
(Cetro) spoke to The Jakarta Post's Soeryo Winoto about the
matter.

Question: Have you read the President's state address, which says
irresponsible NGOs need to be regulated?
Answer: I've heard about it, but I haven't had time to read it.
There are many more important things for me to do.

If there are irresponsible NGOs, do you think the government
should make any plans to regulate them?

It is not only NGOs that are irresponsible. There are state
institutions and political parties that are irresponsible and
lack credibility. They just don't care about being accountable to
the public. Didn't your hear from the General Elections
Commission (KPU) that Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle, Golkar and the National Mandate Party, for example,
received excessive election funds in the 1999 election?

They have failed to be accountable to the public. Why did
Megawati only criticize NGOs in her speech? Put things in
proportion, please. NGOs are not under the auspices of the
government, they don't receive money from the government.
Therefore, NGOs are under no obligation to be publicly
accountable. Cetro, however, is always transparent. Just look at
our website. You can find everything about us, including our
financial reports. Have local political parties done what Cetro
has?
What would happen if Megawati's statements were taken by her
ministers and assistants as an instruction to control NGOs?

We would be going back to the New Order era. Soon after
Megawati was elected president, I predicted the country would
turn its course back to the New Order style. The government has
become increasingly authoritarian. There are systematic efforts
being made to repress NGOs.
How do you think the government will repress and control NGOs?

They (the government) can introduce laws. Laws and regulations
on foundations are an example of the systematic plan to curb
NGOs. That's the start of the repression. The government has also
begun to use NGO figures for its own interests.
So the government is going to chop down one apple tree because
there is one bad apple on it?

You've been trapped by the government's frame of thinking if
you use such an analogy. That's not the point. The point is that
the government does not want to be criticized and controlled.
NGOs have been too outspoken in criticizing the government. We
are always consistent. We will always be critical of the
government, regardless of who rules the country. People have said
in the past that Cetro was very close to then president
Abdurrahman Wahid. But we kept voicing our concern against
irregularities.
Is there any government institution that controls NGOs in our
country? What institutions do you think have the right to control
NGOs?

No single government institution has controlled NGOs so far. I
don't see any reason for any (government) institution to control
NGOs. NGOs control themselves. We have been conducting self
governance. We have a code of conduct that must be respected by
us (in Cetro).

Cetro members monitor the enforcement of these rulings (the
code of conduct). NGOs do not belong to the state. We are a group
of people organized to voice our concern against irregularities.
Let us regulate and control ourselves. Why should the government
put its hands on us.

It's not easy for us to raise money for our activities, yet
we've been transparent and are open. Political parties, on the
otherhand, can obtain a lot of money easily without being
publicly accountable. If political parties obtain money from the
government, that means the parties have used public money. So why
are they not publicly accountable? Do you really think political
parties have not violated regulations on public accountability?

So, the President has been unfair and lacks a sense of
proportion.