The law as helmsman

The law as helmsman

Under the New Order the law has still not been able to place
itself in a helmsman's position in this country. This is one of
the interesting premises made by Yusril Ihza Mahendra in a speech
during his confirmation as professor of law in the University of
Indonesia's School of Law last week. "The law as the helmsman" is
an expression designed to enunciate a major difference with the
past Old Order regime, which used "politics as the helmsman" as
its motto.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra's observation gives all of us cause for
apprehension. Many cases involving the enforcement of the law
makes it indeed impossible for us to claim that we have abandoned
the maxim of politics as the helmsman. The much-publicized
abduction and disappearance of political and student activists --
even though we are still in the dark as to who the perpetrators
are -- serve as disturbing examples all of us to see. Also, the
imprisonment without due legal process, a few years ago, of a
number of vocal critics still lingers fresh in our minds. The
arbitrary meting out of death sentences against criminals by what
was popularly known at the time as "mysterious gunmen" is another
blemish on our country's legal practices.

Tragically, all those legal deviations are supposed to be New
Order corrections of Old Order practices. As we may remember, a
number of political dissenters -- such as Sjahrir, Prawoto and
others -- whose views differed from those of the Sukarno regime
were at the time imprisoned without trial. Journalists Mochtar
Lubis of the newspaper Indonesia Raya and Tasrif of the newspaper
Abadi suffered the same fate.

All of them were freed after the fall of the Old Order. Their
release was motivated by the New Order's trauma with the legal
deviations committed by the previous regime. People were
traumatized by all the deviations from the Constitution,
especially those that affected the position of citizens with
regard to the law.

All our judicial authorities and all our government officials
need, in this context, to bring about the necessary corrections
in order to establish a climate of equanimity in our society and
to uphold the law on a basis of honesty, truth and justice.

-- Republika, Jakarta