For more than four decades, the attorney general’s office could unilaterally prohibit publication or distribution of books deemed “offensive” or a “threat to public order.” But the Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday such power should rest with a judicial court.
“It’s great,” said historian Hilmar Farid. “It symbolizes the end of a period of darkness for all of us.
It will allow future generations to learn the truth about everything, from science to history.” Suharto stepped down in 1998 after 32 years of dictatorial rule, leading to reforms in the predominantly Muslim nation of 237 million that freed the media, vastly improved human rights and gave citizens the right for the first time to directly pick their leaders.
Though the country is now seen as one of the most democratic in the region, some authoritarian policies remain in place, such as a continuing ban on communist and other left-wing organizations.
A group of authors and publishers whose books were banned last year asked the Constitutional Court to review the 1963 regulation that allowed it. Their books — and others — touched on sensitive topics like separatist-torn Papua province, inter-religious conflicts, the role of the military and even scientific research.
In striking down the law, Judge Mohammad Mahfud told the court: “Any banning of books must be done through the legal process in a court.” Hundreds of books have been banned since the 1960s, including almost all 34 books and essays by late Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, an outspoken democracy advocate who spent 14 years in jail during Suharto’s reign.
Three suspected members of late terror leader Noordin Mohammad Top’s network went on trial in Indonesia Thursday over twin suicide bombings on two luxury hotels in Jakarta last year.
Bayu Seno, alias Tono, faces the death penalty if convicted on charges of assembling the bombs used in the July 17 attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, which killed seven people.
“He assisted in an act of terrorism by way of purposely using violence and stirring up an atmosphere of terror and widespread fear,” prosecutor Kiki Ahmad Yani told the West Jakarta district court.
Seno also assisted by buying and transporting explosive materials which were to be used in a plot to assassinate Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, he said.
