Permit study plan draws skepticism

Permit study plan draws skepticism

JAKARTA (JP): Caution and skepticism greeted the government's
announcement yesterday that it was reviewing its policy regarding
the issuance of permits for public gatherings.

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) questioned
the very existence of the policy and expressed concern that the
review would result in a tightening of the regulations.

"I'm am worried that it will only toughen things," Walhi
Program Coordinator Emmy Hafild told The Jakarta Post.

The 1945 Constitution guarantees people's right to assemble,
she pointed out.

Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security
Soesilo Soedarman said on Monday that he had assigned a team
within his office to review the controversial policy.

Emmy said it was a pity that the review team did not include
outside experts and non-government groups.

The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) said such a review
was long overdue. "In a democracy, the politics of permits and
prohibition are something totally unnecessary," a spokesman for
the foundation said.

By law, any gathering involving more than five people must
have a permit from the authorities. Police have, in the past,
turned down a number of requests for permission to hold seminars,
public debates and even cultural performances, on the grounds
that they had the potential to undermine national stability.
There have also been occasions on which police have broken up
gatherings that did not have permits.

The YLBHI said that at least 18 gatherings were disbanded by
the police last year. This year the number has already reached
15, the foundation said.

Last year, the YLBHI was itself a victim of the permits policy
when its seminar on the politically-sensitive issue of land
disputes was broken up by police.

Since December last year three meetings organized by Walhi
regarding the government's nuclear power plants have been unable
to proceed because they were denied permits.

Censorship

Emmy Hafild compared the requirement for a permit to hold a
public meeting with censorship. She said only entertainment
gatherings which could affect public order, such as rock
concerts, should require permits because of security
considerations.

"This isn't the Old Order," she said, using the popular term
for the administration of former Indonesian president Sukarno.

The YLBHI maintained that citizens should only need to report,
not to get permission for, public gatherings.

"The politics of permits, looking back at past history, is a
political heritage of the colonial Dutch-Indies and fascist
Japan," it said.

Intellectual Emha Ainun Nadjib, a strong critic of the
government, said that, as on many previous occasions, the
government had recently barred him from making a public
appearance.

He told reporters that in the latest incident he had been
barred him from addressing a meeting at an Islamic institute in
Lamongan, Central Java.

"This is clearly a serious violation of the Constitution...It
is a disservice to democracy, devoid of any rationality," he
said.

The director of Golkar's Legal Aid Institution, Martin
Hutabarat, told the Post there was a need to define the criteria
for granting permits for gatherings.

"We should be ashamed if scientific activities also need
permission. I can't believe that in our 50th year of independence
we still do not trust campus intellectuals," he said.

He called for greater transparency in the permit issuance
process and said that in the event of any dispute, the matter
should be settled by a court. "Let the court rule on whether or
not an activity should be given a permit, rather than letting the
decision be based on the whim of an official," he said.

In Semarang, a member of the National Commission on Human
Rights, Muladi, said that the requirements for the granting of
permits for public gatherings should be reasonable and
responsible. Otherwise, he said, Indonesia would appear to be a
repressive society.

Muladi defended the government's right to regulate gatherings.

"This right must respected as long as it is aimed at
maintaining public order and is for the national interest," he
said, adding that it was often society itself which sparked
disorder.

Andi Mattalata, a legislator from the ruling political group
Golkar, said that the regulation requiring permits for gatherings
must not contradict Article 28 of the 1945 Constitution, which
guarantees freedom of association and expression, Antara
reported.

Andi said that, on occasion, those rights had been abused by
certain people in the service of their own political interests.

Royani Haminullah, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic
Party, said he doubted that new regulation would be any better.
"I fear that it will be even more restrictive," he said.

Ircham Abdurrachim of the United Development Party faction
said that the regulation should not remove the people's freedom
to voice their opinions.

"I think it is ironic that, as political stability increases
over time, our freedom to express opinions is decreasing," he
said. (imn/har/mds)