More activists against plan on regulating NGOs

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)