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Experts, activists call for civil disobedience, unity to oppose Job Creation Law
Kontras coordinator Yati Andriyani said civil movements must be cross-issue and cross-generational, as happened in Hong Kong and Thailand.
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Cause for tears: A protesters sits on a road as tear gas fired by police obscures the scene behind him during a demonstration in Harmoni, Central Jakarta, on Oct. 8. Labor unions, students and members of the public have been up in arms since Monday, when the House of Representatives gave its final approval for passing the job creation omnibus bill into law. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
E
xperts and activists have called for a larger civil movement and collective civil disobedience to convey public distrust in the government following the passage of the controversial omnibus law on job creation at the beginning of this month.
They called the public to react to this situation not as a part of a specific group but as individuals as the government had ignored their rights, specifically the right to information by determining what constituted as fake news.
Researcher at a human rights group Hakasasi.id Yati Andriyani said civil movements must be cross-issue and cross-generational, as happened in Hong Kong and Thailand, as well as the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
“We need a movement that is cross-issue and organic. It has no shape and is not dependent on certain leaders,” she said in a virtual presser on Monday.
Josardi Azhar, a student protester from Gadjah Mada University (UGM), who is part of the People Movement Alliance (ARB) that held massive rallies in Gejayan, Yogyakarta on Oct. 5, said protesters should transcend university loyalties.
"At the previous rally, the police arrested those who did not wear alma mater jackets. I realized then that those who wore one had security privilege,” he said.
Gadjah Mada University constitutional law lecturer Zainal Arifin Mochtar said there were many problems in the deliberation of the law and suggested the public carry out civil disobedience by ignoring the law in addition to holding street protests and submitting a judicial review at the Constitutional Court.
"Those are three things that can be done politically, legally and socially. They must be done together," he said.
