Official defends bans on series of NGO meetings
JAKARTA (JP): The government denied allegations yesterday that permits for political gatherings and art performances are issued on a discriminatory basis.
"The criteria are not so much based on who holds or addresses the meeting but on a consistent enforcement of the law," said Sutoyo N.K., the director general for socio-political affairs of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Sutoyo said the authorities carefully consider the purpose of the gathering before they decide whether or not to issue a permit.
Sutoyo was responding to the government's unpopular spate of bans on privately sponsored seminars and art performances in various cities without clear legal basis.
The bans, which have been imposed with increasing frequency, have sparked allegations that they show the government's determination to tighten control over NGOs. Restrictions on government sponsored gatherings are rarely if ever made.
In the latest incident, police in Yogyakarta again dispersed a seminar on the newly issued controversial presidential decree controlling non-governmental organizations. The police said the organizers did not have a permit from the local authorities.
It was the second incident of its kind that the ancient city has witnessed in less than a week. On Sept. 22, security forces broke up a seminar on the same topic.
Both banned gatherings featured activists from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and outspoken intellectuals like Arief Budiman from the Salatiga based Satyawacana Christian University.
Special
Tuesday's ban was somewhat special because a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, Soetandyo Wignyosoebroto, was scheduled as a speaker.
Numerous seminars and plays have been banned this year although officials keep insisting that they have no intention to close the door of openness they have pursued over the past couple of years.
YLBHI has described the government's heavy-handed policy as "a show of political repression aimed at trampling the citizens' freedom of expression and freedom of assembly."
Sutoyo insisted that Law No. 3 of 1985 on political organizations and Law No. 8 of 1985 on mass organizations with the various complementary rules provided the legal basis for the policy on issuance of permits for public gathering.
He said the police, with a recommendation from the home affairs ministry, have the final say in deciding whether a gathering would be permitted or not.
"The ministry will check if the organizer applying for a permit is from a legitimate organization," he said to Antara.
He added that police criteria were different from the ministry's when issuing a public gathering permit.
"Indonesia upholds the supremacy of law. Even if you want to hold a wedding party, you are supposed to give notice to your neighborhood unit chief," he said. (pan)