TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The seven-year sentence demanded for Heri Budiawan alias Budi Pego, an environmental activist in Banyuwangi, is truly unjust. This resident of Sumber Agung village in the Banyuwangi Regency of East Java was only exercising his right to protest and reject the development of a gold mine owned by Damai Suksesindo on Tumpang Pitu Mount in April 2017, when he was arrested on charges of spreading communism.

The panel of judges at the Banyuwangi District Court trying the case must acquit Heri of all charges. The evidence submitted by the prosecutors, namely a banner with the hammer and sickle logo Heri was supposed to be carrying while demonstrating, was not sufficient proof to sentence him. Moreover, several witnesses denied that banner was present at the demonstration.

But that is not all. The prosecutors choice of using Article 107-a of Law No. 27/1999 on Revisions to the Criminal Code, which regulates crimes against national security, was excessively zealous. A demonstration against a gold mine was clearly not an attempt to spread communism, Marxism, or Leninism as stipulated under those articles.

Heri and his group are strongly opposed to the gold mine in Banyuwangi. He feels the exploitation of this natural resource will be more detrimental than beneficial for inhabitants there. Such an attitude and opposition cannot be considered criminal. The gold mine company Heri was protesting against should not have felt so cornered, let alone adopt whatever means it could use to try to silence residents protests.

It is high time for the police to abandon its practice of using the anti-communism articles to criminalize those they consider to be in opposition. It was, at best, a poor shortcut to suppress all those who fall out of line. It is not good form for police to use those articles as a means to serve the interests of any particular party.

In this trial, the panel of the Banyuwangi District Court judges needs not dance to the tune of the plaintiff, which is the same mining company Heri was protesting against. A banner with a logo claimed to resemble the hammer and sickle really cannot be made the basis for passing a fair sentence on anyone in a civilized community. An acquittal for Heri is the only reasonable outcome to bring this case to a close.

The case also reminds us that the ghost of communism still looms over this nation. It is now time for law enforcers and the political elite to all open their eyes and realize that any threat of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) is just an illusion. Fear of the reawakening of the PKI is a political commodity that ought to have been dead and buried decades ago. As an ideology, communism all around the world is already paralyzed. There is no reason to be concerned about its revival.

The strength of the communism ghost in Indonesia is undoubtedly an anomaly. This illogical reality is still present because there are still those who gain political and economic benefit from its widespread stigma. In the 2017 election of the Banten Governor, for instance, the issue of communism successfully eroded the basis of support for the Rano Karno-Embay Mulya pair, who were eventually narrowly defeated by their opponents. Earlier, in the 2014 presidential election, Joko Widodo was also attacked on a similar issue and lost many votes over it.

Because of this, the efforts to bury the ghost of communism in Indonesia must begin with the joint commitment by all in our elite to end the political games around the stigma of the left and the communist label. Democracy and freedom of expression must not be sacrificed for short-term political and economic gains.

Read the full article in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine