NGOs oppose govt plans to regulate their activities

NGOs oppose govt plans to regulate their activities

By Lewa Pardomuan

JAKARTA (JP): Several outspoken non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) are voicing their opposition to the government's plan to
monitor their activities through a presidential decree out of
fear it will become a tool to restrict them.

"No doubt about it. The government is trying to control us
through the decree," Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, chairperson of
Solidaritas Perempuan, a support organization for women, told The
Jakarta Post.

The chairman of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), Luhut
M.P. Pangaribuan, says if the decree does restrict the activities
of the NGOs it will be "a tragedy".

Luhut cautioned that there might be problems in implementing
such a decree because it runs counter to the current trends
towards greater political openness. "The government should
support the organizations, and not restrict them," he said.

Many NGOs, especially those dealing with human rights, have
been at odds with the government, in recent years. Many of them
have even gone so far as to suggest that foreign governments
cancel their aid to the Indonesian government.

Officials have often criticized the more outspoken NGOs, at
times accusing them of selling out the country.

Nursyahbani said she was privy to a draft of the decree when
it was presented during a meeting between several NGO leaders and
officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs in February.

She said the proposal treats NGOs like mass organizations,
therefore making them subject to Law No. 8/1985, which compels
all mass organizations in Indonesia to register with the Ministry
of Home Affairs. Those who fail to register are considered
illegal organizations.

By definition, an NGO is a non-profit institution, which does
not have any members, while a mass organization opens itself for
membership.

Nursyahbani said an NGO, or a foundation supporting it, is
usually established through a notary public act and registered at
the appropriate district court.

On the basis of this, any government attempt to freeze an NGO
should be carried out through the State Administrative Court
because an NGO's existence does not depend on the government's
recognition, but rather on the court's registration.

Nursyahbani believes that efforts to force the NGOs to
register themselves at the ministry simply show the government's
authoritarian approach. "We will just wait and see on what will
happen if the NGOs refuse to register," she said.

She also argued against the planned decree on the basis of the
1945 Constitution which guarantees freedom of organization.

The Ministry of Home Affairs last week made public the list of
738 mass organizations registered with the government, stressing
that those not on the list are illegal.

The government decided to make the list available to the
public so that people would know which ones are legal and which
ones are illegal, adding that many organizations that have made
news in recent months are not on the list. The SBSI labor
organization and the Darul Arqam Moslem organization are among
those missing from the list.

Ministry officials also warned that the government is
targeting the NGOs next.

Arist Merdeka Sirait, coordinator of Sisbikum, a support
organization for laborers, told the Post that the government
should understood the fact that NGOs are totally different from
mass organizations.

He said the only way the government can dissolve an NGO is
through the court. He warned that it could face a tough court
battle because stopping the NGOs' activities would not solve the
perceived problem. "NGOs work to serve the public," he said.

Sirait believed that the decree would be counter productive
because it would create more legal uncertainties.

"NGOs are themselves legal institutions, why should they be
regulated by a decree?" he asked. He also said he fears that the
decree will become a repressive tool to restrict the NGO's
movements.