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Defending rallies, even in clogged traffic
The 1999 law on freedom of opinion must be revised
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T
he 1999 law on freedom of opinion must be revised. The new Jakarta governor's regulation based on this law still limits the noise level and locations of protests, and still involves the army.
As an impact, we may never see again the Kamisan, the silent peaceful protest held every Thursday in front of the Presidential Palace, which demands the resolution of human rights abuses.
Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama's regulation restricts demonstration locations to among others, the southern grounds of the National Monument (Monas) square, the compound of the legislature and the Senayan east parking lot.
Protest demonstrations are a political practice founded on the freedom of movement, thought, speech, religion, assembly and association as enshrined in the 1945 Constitution. These civil liberties are also included in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Indonesia recognizes.
Rallies, assemblies, sit-ins, picket lines, strikes and boycotts are all derivatives of demonstrations. When facilitated, petitions are usually regulated as the practice is considered more valid and accountable. Petitions are also used to gather more support for the demands of a demonstration.
In Indonesia, protests have been recognized since the sultanate period. In Java, we had the tapa pepe tradition, in which subjects gathered and sat under the sun for a specific period of time in front of the palace or the city square (alun-alun).
The Bugis people of South Sulawesi also have the amaradekangeng, a code of civil rights.
These principles include the right to submit a petition (mannganroriade'), the right to deliver an objection (mapputane'), the right to occupy and strike (mallimpo-ade), the right to fight (mabbarata) and the right to political asylum (mallekke' dapureng).
One of our founding fathers, Mohammad Hatta, writing in Daulat Rakjat newspaper in 1931, summarized such customs as a recognition of the people's right to express dissent publicly.
Along with the other founding fathers, he enshrined this right in the original Constitution, which includes the right to hold demonstrations, strikes and submit petitions.
Unfortunately, the 1998 law on freedom of opinion in public did not recognize picketing and sit-ins.
It was passed shortly before the massive demonstrations and sit-ins following growing demand that the November 1998 special session of the People's Consultative Assembly remove then president Soeharto.
The shooting of students known as the Semanggi Tragedy of Nov. 11-13, 1998, might not have happened if Law No. 9/1998 recognized picketing and sit-ins. In a democratic scenario, the special session would
have been postponed to allow dialogue between the political elite and the students.
Such a scenario happened when students protested the ceremony installing the Cabinet in February 1966, which resulted in negotiations with then president Sukarno.
This tragedy should be a lesson that demonstrations must be facilitated as a vehicle of public aspirations. That demonstrations are needed to build a participatory democracy that empowers citizens. We need to multiply, not limit, the channels through which people's aspirations can reach those in power.
Demonstrations are the requirements for preserving 'the physical and emotional experience of the mass collectively', to cite the historian Eric Hobsbawm.
When we are stuck in traffic because of demonstrations, we are forced to be aware of others who are yet to enjoy justice.
Such collective experience helps nurture the culture of queuing in line without separators, brushing each other's shoulders in a crowd without fear of being stabbed and keeping order in the streets even without traffic police.
And this experience will never be replaced by social media. Protests through social media will not be able to bring the heat, streams of sweat, sore legs and the sadness, happiness or anger felt in street rallies.
Thus, demonstrations are not disturbances, as described by Sherry Arnstein. Demonstrations are a
test of our togetherness, the guidelines for us to share spaces and evidence of participation based on
citizen power.
______________________________
The writer was a student activist in 1998 who works at the ICT Laboratory for Social Change (iLab.)
