Rights talks proceed in face of intimidation

Rights talks proceed in face of intimidation

JAKARTA (JP): A discussion on press and human rights held to
commemorate International Human Rights Day on Saturday Dec. 10
went as planned even though security authorities tried to cancel
the meeting.

The various techniques used in attempts to shut down the
meeting ranged from a request to the owner of the building in
which it was held to stop the discussion to a number of
"obstructions", including an electricity blackout.

"Authorities from the South Jakarta police precinct asked
officers of the Indonesian Association of Family Planning, which
owns the discussion venue, to cancel the get-together but the
request was turned down," Syarif Bastaman, a member of the
organizing committee, said.

Bastaman is the chairman of the newly established Indonesian
Society for Human Rights Information and Advocacy (Pernia).

Local police officers had abruptly dispersed a discussion on
land problems organized by the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation at
the same structure, the PKBI building, on Jl. Hang Jebat III,
South Jakarta, in September.

No officers dispersed the discussion during Saturday's
meeting, although people attending said someone had tried to turn
them away when they came, telling them that the event had been
cancelled.

"The police did not want to directly cancel the discussion,
but requested us to cancel it by ourselves," Bastaman said.

One area police officer insisted that the people responsible
for holding the meeting had neglected to get the required
permits.

"However, I told him permits are not required for all
discussions," Bastaman said, adding that he had been involved in
organizing a number of prior events at the building without any
trouble.

The event went on as planned even though there seemed to be
trouble with the electricity, which people attending suspected
was deliberate.

During the discussion, which began at 1 p.m., the microphones
went off at 2:15 p.m.. Five minutes later, this was followed by
an electricity blackout in the room, which affected the air
conditioning.

"However, electricity was on in the next room, where the
Directorate General of Medicine and Food Supervision of the
Ministry of Health was holding a function," said Stanley, a
participant.

"I thank the PKBI management for still letting us talk here
although the air conditioner was no longer on," said Goenawan
Mohamad, one of the speakers, as he fanned himself.

Speakers expected at the meeting included Surya Paloh, owner
of the Media Indonesia daily and Abdurrahman Wahid, re-elected
leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama organization. However, only
Goenawan, former chief editor of the banned Tempo weekly magazine
and law professor Loebby Loqman showed up.

Incapable

Touching on the press bans, Loqman noted that "holders of law
degrees here are mostly incapable of making laws".

He cited the conflicts between the Press Law, which rules out
banning, and the 1984 Ministerial Regulation, which justifies the
cancellation of publication permits.

"Given these conflicting rulings, the journalistic code of
ethics must be mainly based on a reporters' conscience," Loqman
said.

Gunawan said he was concerned that such discussions mostly
involve people who have heard a lot about press freedom. "It's a
waste of energy," he said. (anr)