· \ THE .JAKARTA POST WEDNESDAY, .JANUARY 12, 1994 Why should student activists be ,branded 'un-Indonesian'? I, ;{, The student p1'otests and det ent ions of the past few months have revi ved memories of student s bein g tried and jailed for similar offenses in the past. Ariel Heryanto looks into the legal history behind the authorities actions. SALATIGA, Central Java (JP): The past few months saw the vigorous en - forcement of a set of articles within the penal code against student activist s. These artic- les carry penalties for public- ly expressing hostility, hatred , or di sr es pect toward s the President , the govern- ment, or its officials. We will see more such trials in the weeks to come. In November two students were senten ced to four I months in Ser.larang for ex- horting the peopl e to boycott last year's general election. Lukas Luwarso and Poltak Ike Wibowo, both 25 years old, had coordinated a meet- ing where pe ople we re urged to cast blank ballots ,in pro- test of the electoral system. Ironically , the gathering took place on National Awa- kening Day, which com- memorates th e struggle of student activists against Dutch colonial rule. As the trials of Luwarso and Wibowo started in July last year, 50 kilometers south of Se marang , a Salatiga court was pre paring for the trial of a student charged with cir- culating a controversial 1991 calender. Hi s prosecution . was based on the same artic- les, The accused, Buntomi, was to l;>e tried for chairing Yaya- san Geni, which was . alleged- ly involved in the circulation of the calender. This calender featured a collage-style cari- cature, depicting infamous cases of state-s ponsored land acqui sition through coercive mean s. Buntomi escaped pro - secution . Slander In Jakarta , Nuku Soleiman is awaiting his trial on c harges of violating the sarpe articles . He was arrested on Nov. 26, a few days after the verdicts on Luwarso and Wibowo were handed down. Soleiman was arrested on -A RIEL HERYANTO charges of circulating stick- ers among protesters oppos- ing the national lottery SDSB that allegedly s landered Pres- ident Soeharto . Last month 21 student ac- tivists were arrested in Jakar- ta during a peaceful demon- stration against what they consider the excessive use of violence by the state to resol- ve civil disputes. The official reason for these arrests was the display of a banner de- manding the House of Repre- sentatives make the Presi- dent accountable for the states . policies and actions. Officials have hinted that these young prisoners will soon be brought to trial , all charged under the same artic- les . For those unfamiliar with the history of political re pres- , sion it is tempting to attribute such laws as inherent to In- donesianculture. It is tempt- ing to explain, or at least to question , the phenomena in terms of the unique essence or identities of Indonesia 's authe ntic cultural value sys- tem, as the official propagan- da would have it, Indeed, to ignore such a common at- tribution is to appear insens- ible or insensitive, Within this non-Weste rn familial community, so the argument goes, challenging the authority of the ruling elites is either immoral or illegitimate. At best , it is to be regarded as a corrupt mimic- ry of the liberal democracy that pertains to modern West- ern societies, To question the current political prosecution is to run the risk of being seen as patroni zing Indonesians by imposing incompatible Western political and cultural values. Rather than questioning the " true " nature of Indone- sian culture, or arguing the univer sal values of basic hu- man right s, one must square- ly recognize how Westernized these recent political trials , as well as the very notion of some uniquely Eastern or In- donesian cultural values, are. The legal. articles in ques- tion are part of the currentl y effective criminal codes (KUHP), inherited wholly from the Dutch colonial pen- al code. The articles were originally proposed by Gov - ernor General Idenburg on March 15 , 1914 before being ratified into the colonial legal system in 1918. Their original target s were primarily anti- colonial journalist s. Modifications When Indonesia gained its independent in 1945, virtually the whole colonial legal struc- ture survived, and with a few minor modifications it be- came nationalized. For in- stance, the articles prohibit- ing public expressions ofhos- tility, hatred , and disrespect to the Queen were altered to apply to the President. Small wonder that the code con- tinued to victimize post-inde- pendence journalists, until 1973 when more repressive measures (licensing and ex- tra- judiciary ' banning) were launched to control journal- ists with greater effectiveness and efficiency. Afterwards those wielding these articles shifted their target from journalists to stu- de nt activists . In April 1989 they constituted supplemen- tary charges against Bam- bang Isti Nugroho, a young cultural activist in Y ogyakar- tao Later that year, the same articles were employed to prosecute six students of the Bandung Institute of Tech- nology , for rejecting the visit of the Home Minister to their campus, Leaving moral and legal questions aside, we see that prosecuting modern citizens on the pretext of making pub- lic expression of hostility, hatred, or disrespect against the government or its offi- cials is far from unique, let alone essentially Indonesian. It is unequivocally a direct adoption of Wp<:tprn colonial repressive ' measures. It is ironic that many current gov- ernment officials in this country habituall y and un- consciously atte mpt to di s- credit activists by branding them as "un-Indonesian" or Westernized. It is precisely such labeling that was initi- ated by their European colo-. nial predecessors. This leaves the dichotomy of West and East problematic , to say the least. Social scien- tists in the 1970s attempted alternative terminologies center/m etropole - periphery, in lieu of the more condes- cending terms developed- -developing countries . Post- modernist scholars have come to favor "postcolonial" to describe the contemporary West's Others, or East. None of these terms is exempted from similar prob l ems . The recent political trials in this country beg the question of how post-colonial is con- temporary Indon esia? The writer is le cturer at the post-graduate program at the Satya Wa cana Christian Uni- versity in Salatiga, Downloaded from <arielheryanto.wordpress.com>
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· \ THE .JAKARTA POST WEDNESDAY, .JANUARY 12, 1994
Why should student activists be ,branded 'un-Indonesian'? I, ;{,
The student p1'otests and detentions of the past few months have revived memories of students being tried and jailed for similar offenses in the past. Ariel Heryanto looks into the legal history behind the authorities actions.
SALATIGA, Central Java (JP): The past few months saw the vigorous enforcement of a set of articles within the penal code against student activists. These articles carry penalties for publicly expressing hostility, hatred, or disrespect towards the President, the government, or its officials. We will see more such trials in the weeks to come.
In November two students were sentenced to four
I months in Ser.larang for exhorting the people to boycott last year's general election. Lukas Luwarso and Poltak Ike Wibowo, both 25 years old, had coordinated a meeting where people were urged to cast blank ballots ,in protest of the electoral system.
Ironically, the gathering took place on National Awakening Day, which commemorates the struggle of student activists against Dutch colonial rule.
As the trials of Luwarso
and Wibowo started in July last year, 50 kilometers south of Semarang, a Salatiga court was preparing for the trial of a student charged with circulating a controversial 1991 calender. His prosecution . was based on the same articles,
The accused, Buntomi, was to l;>e tried for chairing Yayasan Geni, which was .allegedly involved in the circulation of the calender. This calender featured a collage-style caricature, depicting infamous cases of state-sponsored land acquisition through coercive means. Buntomi escaped prosecution.
Slander In Jakarta, Nuku Soleiman
is awaiting his trial on charges of violating the sarpe articles. He was arrested on Nov. 26, a few days after the verdicts on Luwarso and Wibowo were handed down. Soleiman was arrested on
-A RIEL HERYANTO charges of circulating stickers among protesters opposing the national lottery SDSB that allegedly slandered President Soeharto.
Last month 21 student activists were arrested in Jakarta during a peaceful demonstration against what they consider the excessive use of violence by the state to resolve civil disputes. The official reason for these arrests was the display of a banner demanding the House of Representatives make the President accountable for the states . policies and actions.
Officials have hinted that these young prisoners will soon be brought to trial, all charged under the same articles.
For those unfamiliar with the history of political repres,sion it is tempting to attribute such laws as inherent to Indonesianculture. It is tempting to explain, or at least to question, the phenomena in terms of the unique essence or identities of Indonesia's authentic cultural value system, as the official propaganda would have it, Indeed, to ignore such a common attribution is to appear insensible or insensitive,
Within this non-Western familial community, so the argument goes, challenging the authority of the ruling elites is either immoral or illegitimate. At best, it is to be regarded as a corrupt mimicry of the liberal democracy that pertains to modern Western societies, To question the current political prosecution is to run the risk of being seen as patronizing Indonesians by imposing incompatible Western political and cultural values.
Rather than questioning the "true" nature of Indonesian culture, or arguing the universal values of basic human rights, one must squarely recognize how Westernized these recent political trials , as well as the very notion of some uniquely Eastern or Indonesian cultural values, are.
The legal. articles in question are part of the currently effective criminal codes (KUHP), inherited wholly from the Dutch colonial penal code. The articles were originally proposed by Governor General Idenburg on March 15, 1914 before being ratified into the colonial legal system in 1918. Their original targets were primarily anticolonial journalists.
Modifications When Indonesia gained its
independent in 1945, virtually the whole colonial legal structure survived, and with a few minor modifications it became nationalized. For instance, the articles prohibiting public expressions ofhostility, hatred, and disrespect to the Queen were altered to
apply to the President. Small wonder that the code continued to victimize post-independence journalists, until 1973 when more repressive measures (licensing and extra-judiciary 'banning) were launched to control journalists with greater effectiveness and efficiency.
Afterwards those wielding these articles shifted their target from journalists to student activists. In April 1989 they constituted supplementary charges against Bambang Isti Nugroho, a young cultural activist in Y ogyakartao Later that year, the same articles were employed to prosecute six students of the Bandung Institute of Technology, for rejecting the visit of the Home Minister to their campus,
Leaving moral and legal questions aside, we see that prosecuting modern citizens on the pretext of making public expression of hostility, hatred, or disrespect against the government or its officials is far from unique, let alone essentially Indonesian. It is unequivocally a direct adoption of Wp<:tprn colonial
repressive ' measures. It is ironic that many current government officials in this country habitually and unconsciously attempt to discredit activists by branding them as "un-Indonesian" or Westernized. It is precisely such labeling that was initiated by their European colo-. nial predecessors.
This leaves the dichotomy of West and East problematic , to say the least. Social scientists in the 1970s attempted alternative terminologies center/m etropole - periphery, in lieu of the more condescending terms developed-developing countries. Postmodernist scholars have come to favor "postcolonial" to describe the contemporary West's Others, or East. None of these terms is exempted from similar problems.
The recent political trials in this country beg the question of how post-colonial is contemporary Indonesia?
The writer is lecturer at the post-graduate program at the Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga,
Downloaded from <arielheryanto.wordpress.com>
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