The Jakarta Post, July 20, 2007
We're free to say SBY is Mr. Doubtful, JK is Mr. Greed
Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
My fellow countrymen and women, especially those, such as myself, who think they
were specially sent here by God to criticize everything under the sun in the Republic,
let us exercise our hobby -- we call it freedom of expression, the government freedom
of subversion -- and enjoy another luxury the Constitutional Court has provided us.
With this new luxury, we can now boast that our much richer neighbors,
Singaporeans and Malaysians, for example, are nothing compared to us in terms of
democracy.
They do not have the chance to criticize their governments, while Indonesians have 24
hours a day, seven days a week in which they can express anything they dislike
about their government.
Just try the following:
Let us now call the President, Pak SBY, Mr. Doubtful. Why? He is often doubtful
about making a decision, fearing it will hurt his acceptance rating or displease
someone, anyone.
Many people suspect the President resisted demands for the dismissal of problematic
Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, because he did not
want to see the former business tycoon weep in front of him.
The Vice President, Pak JK, can be called Mr. Greed, because I heard that greed was
the key to success for a businessman. I assume that since his family's widely
diversified businesses have continued to boom for decades, JK must be greedy
enough. (It's an honest mistake if my conclusion is wrong, just the fault of my limited
intellectual capacity.)
The police will not arrest you even if you shout the mocking monikers for the two
leaders at the top of your lungs in front of the presidential and vice presidential
palaces.
The Constitutional Court has guaranteed maniacs like us the freedom to tease, fault
and criticize President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla
without fearing imprisonment.
But here's a piece of friendly advice you will want to keep in mind: You can still be
sent to jail for teasing SBY and JK, because the information you disclose in public
can be categorized as a state secret.
The court on Tuesday scrapped two articles in the Criminal Code prohibiting speeches
and writing which convey antipathy or incite hatred toward the government.
First, however we should thank Panji Utomo, a physician, for filing a judicial review
against articles 154 and 154 of the Criminal Code. An Aceh district court sentenced
the doctor to three months in prison last year for insulting the government and
expressing hatred.
It comes as a surprise that such a historic petition was filed by a little-known activist.
Where were those who claim to be champions of democracy? Why did they just keep
quiet for all these years about these two draconian articles?
The two articles are remnants of the Dutch colonial legal system. This is a legal
system for which former president Soeharto, at the least, no doubt has many fond
memories, as it made it easy for him to arrest anyone he dislikes and silence his
critics.
In December the Constitutional Court scrapped three other articles in the Criminal
Code that kept people from their hobby of burning effigies or pictures of the president
and vice president. Are they still hesitating? Just burn the pictures of SBY and JK. At
the most the police will tell you: Don't burn those. Just put them there to scare away
the dengue mosquitoes!
Before the court's decision, we were only free to say: Finance Minister Sri Mulyani is
very beautiful! But now we can say: Ibu Sri Mulyani looks ugly now after becoming a
minister!
Before Tuesday, when the decision was issued, we were only allowed to say: Genius
chief economics minister Boediono! Now? Feel free to say: Mediocre Boediono!
But please don't avail yourself of this luxury for personal purposes, because it is only
for state affairs. So never say to your mother-in-law: You suck my wallet! Even if it is
true, the state will not protect you.
The scrapping of the five articles -- three in December and two on Tuesday -- is
historic. Freedom of expression is now more secure. However, it is understandable
that many government officials loved the five articles. No one actually likes criticism.
But now they need to learn to hear bad things said about them in public. Or they can
try to find some new kind of technology that automatically blocks all negative
statements from reaching their sensitive ears.
Public officials need to realize the state generously compensates them, including
allowances, for their suffering caused by public criticism.
Police will feel relief with this new development, because now they don't need to arrest
protesters who burn pictures of the President and Vice President. They can do
something more productive, and lucrative, than trying to catch students setting fire to
pictures of SBY.
And a final note for all of us: You may think you are entitled to criticize anything under
the sun, but never try to say anything bad about your boss to his or her face. In this
case, for you own security, it is better to use guerrilla tactics.
The writer can be reached at purba@thejakartapost.com.
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