Our rights

Last month security officers in Jakarta arrested at least 150 people, including 14 women and two children. They were apprehended during a demonstration over soaring prices and a reported 30 percent leakage in the state budget.

Officers said the offenders participated in a mass gathering without an official permit. At least 122 detainees are being detained in "lamentable conditions", their lawyer said. The group, which is being detained with other political detainees, is being held in the same detention center as criminal suspects.

Last month, police also detained three housewives, including astronomer Karlina Leksono, for holding a peaceful demonstration against the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities, especially milk. They, too, were charged with holding a gathering without a permit.

Another eight persons were was arrested recently in Ancol, North Jakarta, on charges of involvement in political activity. The most shocking element in their arrest turns out to be the police's intention of charging them with the most-hated article of the colonial-era Penal Code on sowing hatred against the government.

In Yogyakarta last week, several academics were questioned by the police for their involvement in a discussion, which the police said was politically dangerous. But according to the committee it was a discussion on ways to solve the current crisis, primarily the economic meltdown. The police are reportedly planning to question Amien Rais, a noted political observer of Gadjah Mada University, for sponsoring the discussion.

One would wonder why the authorities would find it preferable if people were to stop expressing their opinions on the economic crisis. And as the nation needs experts from all fields to brainstorm over ways to solve the crisis, peaceful demonstrations may be the best way to deter radicalism among young people. Wielding muscle against demonstrators will only create new heroes. And in this modern age, an old question for this nation still remains: What has happened to the people's constitutional rights? Isn't it the people's constitutional right to discuss politics, including the way they are being governed and where the government will take them?

The government seems slow to realize that to build a modern state the promotion of democracy and openness is a must, otherwise this nation will sink deeper into the darkness.