Andi Hartik, Malang – A Thursday (Kamisan) action in front of the Malang City Hall in East Java was forcibly broken up by a pro-nationalist group on Thursday September 27.
The group objected to the issues that were to be conveyed during the action which is held every Thursday afternoon.
One of the Thursday action participants, Rico Tude, said that the issue that was to be raised at this Thursday action was related to the 1965 affair. According to Rico, there is a lot of fake news produced about the anti-communist purge in 1965.
“Fake news about 1965 continues to be produced by the regime and the [government] opposition. So for us through this Kamisan we are calling for an end to the production of hoaxes about 65 or creating deep hatred against people of Indonesia. Because this issue has become a political commodity. People who knew nothing about the affair can be accused [of complicity]”, he said.
Rico was aware that the action had failed to fulfill the legal requirements because they had not submitted a prior notification of the action with local police.
“Yesterday we were negligent. We didn’t submit a written notification. The person who usually deals with this didn’t come in. Now, [we didn’t expect problems] because of it has become regular, every week there is always a Kamisan action”, said the student who is active with the Student Struggle Center for National Liberation (Pembebasan).
Rico did not deny information that the action was also to be used by activists from the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP). Because, according to Rico, Papuan student activists also have the same interests as them in voicing concerns about human rights.
“[Yes] it’s true there were Papuan comrades. The Papuan comrades also have an interest in upholding human rights. Not just the problem of upholding human rights in Indonesia, in Papua they are also experiencing the same problems”, he said.
Rico added said that he was disappointed that the action was forcibly broken up.
Haris Budi Kuncahyo, one of the members of the group which broke up the Kamisan action said that the protest was taking up the issue of Papuan independence. Because of this therefore, they decided to close the action down.
“The story I read was this, end fake news abut 65. Then at the same time, later on Sunday [sic], at around 9.10am, they departed from the city square to demonstrate. This demo was related to 65. 65 was the understanding. There was nothing about communism, indeed there wasn’t. But the word 65 was linked to consolidating Papuan independence”, he said.
According to Kuncahyo it is inappropriate to raise the issue of Papuan independence in Malang City. Because he said, the Papuan students living in Malang have been treated well.
“Now, they used the term colonialism. Indonesian colonialism. Yet they (the Papuan students) can study freely, they can eat and drink freely in Malang City. There is no intimidation, threats or harassment and the like against them”, he explained.
Meanwhile he also opposed the action because the organising committee had not submitted a notification with police.
“In the post-1998 reformasi [reform] era, there has been extraordinary public openness to freedom of expression and assembly and so forth. But there are rules right, obtaining permits and so forth”, said the man who is active in the organisation Solid NKRI (Solid with Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia).
Kota City municipal deputy police chief Police Commander Bambang Kristanto Utomo said that they had asked that the action be stopped so that it did not end in chaos.
“It comes back to our duty to maintain kamtibmas [security and public order]. Automatically the situation must be favourable. So based on this we took steps to be able to secure [the situation] from the respective groups so there would not be any friction on the ground”, he said.
Utomo said that the Kamisan action participants had not submitted a prior notification with police. We from the police did not issue a permit. [We] didn’t receive a notification from the protesters”, he said.
Notes
Kamisan – Roughly translated as “Thursday Actions”, every Thursday since January 18, 2007, the Solidarity Network for Victims and Families of Victims (JSKKK) has been organising silent actions in front of the State Palace calling on President Yudhoyono to resolve past human rights cases. Over the years, regular Thursday actions have spread to other Indonesian cities.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was Aksi Kamisan di Kota Malang Dibubarkan Kelompok Massa.]
