JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra emphasized that the government had no involvement in various legal reports against a number of activists and academics who were considered to criticize policies.
Yusril said at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta, Monday, that every citizen and community organization has the same constitutional right to report another individual to the authorities if they feel that there are legal provisions that have been violated.
"Yes, the reporter is not the government. The reporting is the people or organizations. Basically the government cannot prohibit it, because it is everyone's right to report others," said Yusril as quoted by Antara.
The former Minister of State Secretary stated that the government's position in this case is passive because it cannot interfere with the private legal rights of citizens.
He likened this to the government's position when facing a lawsuit in court, where the government has no choice but to face the legal process procedurally.
Yusril also explained the working mechanism of the police in responding to reports received from the public. According to him, law enforcement officers have an obligation to follow up on every report from the public to avoid legal claims in the future.
"The police, if there is a report, the police have no choice but to follow up on the report. If he does not follow up, he will be sued in pre-trial," he said.
Regarding the assumption that there is an attempt to criminalize parties opposed to the government, Yusril ensured that there was no instruction from the country's leadership to make the report. He admitted that he did not know the identity of the reporters and guaranteed that the government would still respect freedom of opinion.
Yusril added that the President has repeatedly emphasized the importance of space for academics and the public to express criticism. The criticism and opinions, he said, have not been questioned by the government so far.
"But if the person who reports is the community itself or an organization in the community, then the government also never tells them to report. So the process is normal," said Yusril.
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