Jakarta – More parties have called on the government to crack down on violence conducted by mass organizations, while also raising concern that such violence should not be used as a reason to revoke the right to form associations.
Legislator Rieke Diah Pitaloka of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) called on the government to take stern measures against violent acts by mass organizations, which she called "extremist groups".
"I don't agree with [the idea of] disbanding them as it will only stimulate the emergence of similar organizations, even more militant ones," she said in a discussion titled "State vs mass organizations" by the Journalist Association for Diversity (Sejuk) here on Thursday.
Actress-turned-legislator Rieke was among three members of the House of Representatives' Commission IX overseeing health and manpower affairs whose meeting in Banyuwangi, East Java, last month was broken up by members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI). The protesters alleged the meeting was a gathering of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which was di banded in 1966.
Experts have said that reform of the police force is key to ending thuggery and violence in the country.
"We can't imagine what they [rogue organizations] would do to ordinary people with no political power because they have even committed violence against lawmakers," Rieke said.
She said such groups were often used as tools to exert power in political maneuvering. "They have been employed to shift people's attention from more substantial issues, such as those threatening our country's economic stability," Rieke said.
She cited as examples controversy over the pornography law in 2004 and an attack by the FPI on members of the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion at the National Monument park in 2008. She said both were meant to deflect the public's attention from oil price hikes at the times.
"We should tackle the perpetrators of violence, but we must also seek out the hidden agendas and the puppet masters behind them," she said.
Experts have expressed concern that the more effective violence becomes, the more likely it is to replace dialogue in communities. The police have repeatedly said they will eradicate violence in the country.
Chairman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Usman Hamid said the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guaranteed the right of assembly and association and the right to express opinion, which were essential to democracy. However, he said, the rights were also subject to several restrictions.
He said the government of France had legalized a neo-Nazi organization, but took measures against violent acts the group committed against immigrants. He said the United States had conducted a similar policy in dealing with the Ku Klux Klan.
"Restrictions to the right of association in this case should be viewed from the level of 'threat to the national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others'.
"This will determine how far the state can limit freedom, whether to just the right to express opinions or the right to assembly or the right of association," he said. (lnd)