New policy on permits draws mixed reactions

New policy on permits draws mixed reactions

JAKARTA (JP): The government's decision to waive permit
requirements for academic seminars received mixed reactions
yesterday, as a former general hailed it as a step forward while
the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation blasted the reform as
superficial and ineffective.

Retired Gen. Soemitro welcomed the decision to "return the
freedom of the rostrum to the campus."

He said allowing free speech on university campuses was "the
beginning of the democratization process," adding that there was
nothing wrong with people expressing their opinions.

The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), by contrast,
described the government's decision as a feeble move under which
the political development of students would continue to be
shackled.

"The decision only changes the authority from many hands, the
police and social-political apparatus along with the National
Stability Coordinating Agency, to the hands of the (university)
rector," it said in a statement signed by its communications
director, Hendardi.

Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security
Soesilo Soedarman, speaking after chairing a special cabinet
meeting on Thursday, that the government was waiving permit
requirements for academic activities on campus.

The announcement followed a statement last week that the
government was forming a team to review the universal requirement
for an official permit for any gathering of more than five
people, including cultural exhibitions and performances.

The permits may be issued by the national police headquarters
if recommendations have been made by the various government
agencies involved in the specific field concerned with the
subject of a proposed gathering.

According to Soesilo, in the past six months the government
has issued 1,152 permits for various events. Five requests have
been turned down and 26 events have been broken up because they
had not complied with the requirements.

Thursday's meeting also decided on the creation of a working
group for further permit review, to be headed by Minister of
Justice Oetojo Oesman. The team has been given until the end of
July to report their findings.

The deputy to the national police chief for operational
affairs, Maj. Gen. Mangatar Hutagalung, said yesterday that a
meeting to clarify the matter further would be held between the
police chief and the director general for higher education at the
ministry of education and culture.

"We shall of course follow up on what the coordinating
minister said by implementing it all the way to the lowest
level," he said.

During a meeting with reporters, Soemitro yesterday warned
that, despite the new decision, students must not take their
activities beyond the campus.

"The most important thing is that they should not go out.
Don't demonstrate," the former chief of the Internal Security
Agency warned. "If I was still in charge I would ban
demonstrations," he added.

The YLBHI argued that the holding of the special meeting which
was attended by, among others, the minister of justice and the
National Intelligence Bureau Chief Soedibyo, proved that the
issue of permits was a highly political affair.

The foundation condemned the permits policy as the heritage of
Dutch colonial rule and the Japanese military occupation.

"Does the New Order have to continually perpetrate what was
inflicted by the colonial authorities and fascist Japan?" the
foundation stated. "New Order" describes the government of
President Soeharto since he came to power in 1966.

The YLBHI noted the comments of Director General for Higher
Education Bambang Soehendro, who said that non-academic
activities would still require permits. "This only clarifies how
the rector receives legitimacy from his superiors to control the
students and student affairs."

Such a situation was unfavorable, the foundation said, given
the often strained relations between the students' senate and the
rectorate, adding that the rectorate was often identified as part
of the state bureaucracy.

The YLBHI called for the government to change its perception
that freedom of assembly endangered national unity and stability.
"This kind of negative perception on the part of government
officials must be changed," the foundation said.

Meanwhile in Yogyakarta, Riswandha Imawan, a lecturer at
Gadjah Mada University, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the
politics of the permit had created a monolithic situation in
Indonesian society.

"The politics of permits has effectively helped a single
political force in Indonesia to gain power for itself and control
the political podium in this country," he said.

He said that the function of the permits was to monitor the
activities of citizens. (bsr/har/mds)