Respecting the law
Respecting the law
Only two months ago Indonesians celebrated their country's
50th anniversary of independence. Many hopes were expressed at
the time about the improvement of conditions in all fields. Many
people expected Indonesia's political development to receive more
serious attention, so that people might enjoy greater freedom and
openness. Expectations also grew that the supremacy of the law
referred to in the 1945 Constitution would become reality.
It is therefore tragically ironic to see the increasing
tendency of disrespect toward the universal principles of the
presumption of innocence and the rule of law. Villagers near
Bekasi, some 30 kilometers south of Jakarta, recently attacked
the house of a murder suspect. The angry mob was not patient
enough to await the court's verdict in the case, even though the
police had acted swiftly in investigating the murder and
arresting the suspect. While the mob's violent actions were
apparently spontaneous, the question remains why they took the
law into their own hands.
It is deplorable to see that this trend is not limited to
uneducated villagers but seems to reflect a culture of
lawlessness which permeates all social layers of our society.
Last month in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, a
mysterious group of people attacked the house of a local
legislator who had criticized one of the mayor's policies. Police
have questioned several suspects and believe mayoralty officers
were involved in the shameful incident.
Higher up the social ladder, certain authorities recently
publicly accused a number of public figures of having communist
leanings. The accusation has provoked sharp criticism from many
quarters, including calls that more details be provided. These
have not yet been forthcoming, although the authorities maintain
that they have enough evidence to support their charges. There
has been no indication that the suspects are to be indicted, with
the authorities saying that the exercise of branding the men
communists was meant as a warning to the public about the danger
of the revival of the Indonesian Communist Party through
"formless organizations".
The authorities' reluctance to meet the demand for evidence
has caused both regret and fear on the part of many innocent
people. This is a natural consequence of vague statements, when
basic questions are left unanswered.
In such a confusing situation it is not surprising that many
people now fear that they may be next to be accused of subversion
by the authorities, without evidence being furnished. This is an
instance in which it seems that the law has not been respected
and in which the courts may not be the last bastions of justice.
To many of us, history seems to be repeating itself in a
frightening way. The current scare-mongering is reminiscent of
the last years of the Old Order regime, when the Communist Party
exercised great influence. At that time the authorities,
supported by the communists, drummed up all sorts of campaigns
against those opposed to communism. They not only bandied about
threatening slogans, but also accused anti-communists of
suffering from "communist-phobia" and of being "counter-
revolutionary."
In fact, the prologue to the abortive 1965 communist coup
attempt began when the people became restricted in expressing
concern about the dangers of communist ideology. The authorities
and the communists seemed to have managed to shape public
opinion, or at least to neutralize it, as groundwork for the
planned coup. It is very natural that people do not want to see a
return of that situation.
After celebrating the golden anniversary of independence, our
people deserve to live in peace, free from the menace of
mysterious specters.