Political Satire Ban is Neo-New Order Phenomenon, Human Rights Activist Claims

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia Usman Hamid mentioned that the action of banning Butet Kartaredjasa and Agus Noor's political satire is a Neo-New Order phenomenon. 

"It is no longer a symptom," he said through a phone call today, Dec. 6. According to him, Butet and Agus stated that this was the first out of 41 performances that they experienced a pushback and limitation.

Earlier, Butet and Agus reported intimidation by the police to sign a statement to refrain from performing political satire. "It was quite a serious intimidation," he said. Moreover, security forces were present during the performance, an unusual occurrence in such an event.

The alleged intimidation took place before Butet and Agus' scheduled performance of Musuh Bebuyutan (Nemesis) at Ismail Marzuki Park in Jakarta on Friday, Dec. 1 during a cultural forum of Indonesia Kita (Our Indonesia).

Usman regretted the intimidation tactic deployed by the police. The statement was brought by several members of Cikini sectoral police, he said. 

Six points were included in the statement, including performing the general elections campaign, distributing campaign materials, installing campaign props, and wearing political attributes. 

Other points were wearing running presidential candidate's or legislative candidate's attributes, and other related political activities. 

"if we violate the abovementioned provisions, we consent to receive a sanction under the law," the statement wrote.

IHSAN RELIUBUN

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