More activists against plan on regulating NGOs
JAKARTA (JP): More activists are speaking out against the government's plan to regulate the activities of non-governmental organizations (NG0), saying that it is unconstitutional.
The latest opposition came from a group of activists in North Sumatra who issued a joint statement after deliberating on the draft of the presidential decree regulating NGOs.
"The draft is clearly in violation of the Indonesian people's constitutional right to organize and associate as contained in article 28 of the 1945 Constitution," read the statement, made available to the press yesterday by The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) office in Jakarta.
The statement, signed by 22 activists in North Sumatra, said that the NGOs are already subjected to legislation and that the last thing they need is for a rigid bureaucracy to acquire control over them. "A presidential decree is also subordinate to the law," they said.
A number of vocal NGOs have already spoken out against the government's plan. The draft of the presidential decree has already been presented to selected NGOs and discussed together in the presence of officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The majority of them rejected the proposal.
Some also opposed the government's intention to control the funds the NGOs receive from overseas.
Some of the more vocal NGOs in recent years have come into frequent conflict with the authorities, most notably on the questions of human rights and the environment. Some of their activists have even earned the official wrath of being "a- nationalist" for speaking out against the country at international forums.
Increasing role
The government has acknowledged the increasing role being played by the NGOs, especially in mobilizing people's participation in development, but insists that they have to comply with a certain code of ethics and regulations.
The International NGO forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), a network of dozens of Indonesian and foreign NGOs, early this week in a statement also accused the government of attempting to meddle in the affairs of the NGOs through the decree.
"INFID's opposition is not solely based on its desire to protect the existence of the NGOs, but also on its effort to protect the public from the wrongful application of legal tools, and also to protect the democratization process in every aspect of people's lives."
The forum found that the planned regulation ran counter to the trend to deregulate the private and public sectors.
It suggested that the government prosecute the NGOs which fall out of line given that the activities of the organizations are already regulated by law. (emb)