Vaudine England – Days before a threatened sweep by radical Islamic groups against book stores alleged to be selling communist books, support for freedom of expression is gaining momentum in Indonesia.
President Abdurrahman Wahid has publicly joined demands by intellectuals and others for an end to threats to trash bookstores and burn books. He called for the perpetrators to be punished. "The President wants to make clear to the public that the subject he has discussed with [police chief General Surojo] Bimantoro, mainly concerning the book raids, must be stopped at once," said presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar.
He said the Government was keen to see the distribution of all serious books in Indonesia, and believed that none should be discriminated against. "This means that those involved in the illegal destruction of books and bookstores, as well as threats to shop owners and authors, must be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law," said Mr Wimar, who himself is the author of Toward the Party of Ordinary People, a politically dubious work in some extremist's eyes.
A coalition of minority Islamic groups has already burned books about communism, Marxism and Leninism, and says it will purge the capital of such tracts in a sweep on Sunday, Indonesia's National Awakening Day.
"Such sweeps are unjustifiable," says Minister of Justice and Human Rights Baharuddin Lopa, and some publishing groups have followed suit. "Those who disapprove of certain publications should file lawsuits against the relevant publishers, instead of launching self-styled operations," said the Indonesian Publishers' Association chairman, Arsenal Harahap. "Such actions worry us as well as the general public," said Firdaus Umar, chairman of the Indonesian Bookstores Association.
A newly formed Alliance for Freedom to Think and Speak gained support from some parliamentarians this week. House Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar said the planned removal of leftist books was an anarchic action that ought to be stopped. Hundreds of students, joined by moderate Muslim groups, the scholar Franz Magnis Suseno and feminist Ratna Sarumpaet have been demonstrating against the resurgence of anti-communist hysteria. Learned works about communism by the anti-totalitarian thinker Suseno were among those targeted by the book-burners. Mob attacks on bookstores have occurred since April and are organised by recently formed anti-communist groups. These appear to be funded by the Golkar party and backed by military figures who want to show that a return to firm law and order is needed after the country's chaotic experiment with democracy.
Mr Wahid stresses that he has already ordered police chief Bimantoro to investigate the outrages. "But this new public order is aimed to highlight the Government's stance on how evil and embarrassing for Indonesia this destruction of intellectual literature is," he said.