Ni Komang Erviani and Luh De Suryani, Denpasar – Dozens of environmental activists staged a quiet rally in front of the Bali Police headquarters in Denpasar on Tuesday to protest the arrest of two members from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in Manado, North Sulawesi.
Members from the Bali chapter of Walhi began their march from the Lila Bhuana sports hall, located 200 meters from the provincial police headquarters. Some of the protesters carried huge banners that read "Bebaskan Temanku" or "Free my friends".
Participants marched half-naked with their mouths sealed with green tape, symbolizing the alleged violation of free speech. During the rally protesters lay on the ground and voiced their opinions. Similar rallies also took place in Cirebon, West Java, organized by the Cirebon NGO Coalition (KLC).
On Monday, Walhi's national executive director Berry N. Forqan and water and food campaign manager Erwin Usman were arrested by the Manado Police after staging a rally on the sidelines of the World Ocean Conference (WOC).
The Manado Police dismissed the rally, organized by the Justice, Fishery and Maritime Forum (FKKP), on the grounds they had no permit to stage the protest.
"We strongly condemn the arrest of our friends and the dismissal of the rally," said Agung Wardhana, executive director of Walhi's Bali chapter. "It was against human rights."
Agung said they were protesting against the repressive police response toward members of Walhi and other NGOs who took part in the Manado protest. "We plan to send a letter of protest to National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri," he said.
The Bali activists urged the police chief to summon all parties involved in the Manado rally. The activists were permitted only five minutes to protest, as they failed to obtain a permit before staging the rally.
Agung condemned the Bali Police for being just as repressive as their North Sulawesi counterparts.
"We didn't have enough time to process our permit (for the Bali rally) as our friends in Manadowere taken just yesterday (Monday)," he said.
Agung criticized the WOC as an "elitist maritime event prone to producing maritime projects that would be detrimental to fishermen and coastal communities".
In Cirebon, the KLC said the arrest of two Walhi officials was an arbitrary action by the police and violated the 1945 Constitution.
"The Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression," said coalition coordinator Yoyon Suharyono. "The arrests were excessive and showed the state was using arbitrary regulation."
Yoyon further said the arrests showed the state was unwilling to accept differing opinions on the maritime affairs being discussed at the conference. "The state should have facilitated the people's voice being represented by these environmental activists," he said.
[Nana Rukmana contributed to the article from cirebon.]