Yusril Calls The Government Not Prohibited The Issuance Of Certain Ideology Books

Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correction Yusril Ihza Mahendra (ANTARA/Fath Putra Mulya)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections (Menko Kumham Imipas) Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the government would not prohibit the issuance of books with certain ideologies, including left-handed ones.

Yusril conveyed this when responding to journalists' questions regarding the confiscation of books by a number of activists by the police following a wave of demonstrations in various areas that led to riots at the end of last August.

"There is no implication that the government will ban the issuance of books, that's not the case," said Coordinating Minister Yusril as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, September 26.

The government, he added, has long been open to books. In addition, the Attorney General's Office has not carried out its authority for a long time to carry out delegations to the media and books.

This, he said, was proven by the many books with various ideologies today, including left understanding. "Nothing is prohibited, so the government does not prohibit any books being published," he said.

For Yusril, the confiscation of books carried out by the police in recent times is not an indication that the state will limit public reading. He said that the search and confiscation of books from the residence of activists was solely part of the investigation.

"Itu sebenarnya hanya untuk pendalaman bagi kepentingan penyelidikan, untuk melihat apa latar belakang semua ini, ada terkaitan dengan pihak lain atau tidak?" ucapnya.

Yusril said the government was exploring the understanding of the interest, which according to him was often disclosed by the police, but was not understood by the public. He also said that this understanding was being developed through electronic media.

"His followers are everywhere and that's also not just our concern, [in addition to] the concerns of many countries too ... that's what the government is studying, but now we know ideology cannot be banned, ideology is just living," he said.

Previously, the Ministry of Human Rights stated that the confiscation of books by police officers in the arrest of activists related to cases of alleged incitement to demonstrations was not in line with the spirit of democracy and human rights.

This statement was conveyed by the Expert Staff for Strengthening Bureaucratic Reform and Legislation of the Ministry of Human Rights, Rumadi Ahmad, in response to the confiscation of the book of literacy activists in Kediri, East Java.

"This step is not in line with President Prabowo Subianto's directive that in handling actions, the apparatus must pay attention to human rights, especially as stipulated in Article 19 of the International Covant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)," he said.