M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta — The Indonesian Legal Aid
Institute (YLBHI) and the Commission for Missing
Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) says it is
disappointed that eight Legal Aid Foundation (LBH)
activists in Banda Aceh have been named as suspects
by the police saying that the police are protecting
the interests of a company that appropriated land
belonging to the people in 1990.

"We are warning the police not to side with the
company. It would be ironic if it is precisely those
fighting for the interests of the people that are
charged with inciting hatred against a public
company", said YLBHI director for advocacy Taufik
Basari during a press conference at the Kontras’
offices on Jl Borobudur in the Menteng area of
Central Jakarta on Friday August 10.

Furthermore continued Basari, the charges against
the eight LBH activists are based on the ambiguous
hate-sowing articles, which are no longer in use.
"We are disappointed over the arrests of the eight
LBH Banda Aceh activists at the Langsa Post by the
East Aceh district police", he repeated.

The federal secretary of Kontras, Oslan Purba
meanwhile said that he is concerned that the
police’s actions will serve to obscure a problem
that is actually of concern to LBH, that is the
actions of PT Bumi Flora in forcibly taking over
land owned by the people in 1990.

The eight activists who were arrested on July 2 are
Muksalmina, Yulisa Fitri, Sugiono, Muhammad Jully
Fuadi, Mardiati, Mustiqal Syahputra and Juanda. They
were named suspects on August 8 and are being
charged under articles 160 and 161 of the Criminal
Code(1).

Purba added that the two articles being used by
police to indict the activists have actually been
revoked by the Constitutional Court. The
Constitutional Court recently decided that the two
articles are no longer relevant in the development
of a democratic environment.

"The police’s actions have in fact done irreparable
damage to a state constitutional verdict in using
articles that threaten democratisation and human
rights", asserted Purba.

YLBHI and Kontras will therefore asking the police
to act professionally by respecting the rights of
the people and the activists assisting them. They
also asking that the police investigate suspicions
that the land at Bumi Flora(2) was forcibly seized
and investigate the death of three local residents
in 1999 who were defending their land. (zal/nvt)

Notes:

1. On July 17 the Indonesia’s Constitutional Court
declared unconstitutional articles 154 and 155 of
Indonesia’s Criminal Code, commonly known as the
“hate sowing” (Haatzai Artikelen) articles. It did
not however revoke articles 160 or 161 on incitement
which carry a maximum sentence of six and four years
jail respectively.

2. On August 9, 2001, 31 people were massacred by
the Indonesian Military at a plantation, Bumi Flora
in East Aceh. The military later claimed that the
Free Aceh Movement carried out the killings.