Danu Damarjati, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has criticised the confiscation of books by the police, in this case the East Java and West Java Regional Police (Polda), over last few days.
Kontras Coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya Saputra said that this is a sign that the police are still scared of books and ideas. "Meaning, the police are also still scared of books or ideas", said Saputra at the Kontras offices in Central Jakarta on Friday September 19.
Saputra explained that this is a pattern that has actually been repeated, because on several occasions, the police also limited various discussions. In fact there was once even a ban on book reviews. According to Saputra, this is a pattern that occurred during the New Order era of former president Suharto.
"Now, those books cannot actually be used as a presupposition of activities or a person's actions. Because, again, books are a tool of knowledge or a source of knowledge. Which also cannot be used as evidence or an indication about someone's behaviour", he said.
According to Saputra, confiscating books is an attempt by the police to make up an explanation for the riots that occurred in late August.
"And if it's like that, people who read the same book, whether people who buy the same book or read the same book, can they also be labelled as people who are affiliated with anarchic groups (rioters)?", added Saputra.
The confiscation of the books occurred during the arrest of perpetrators suspected of being involved in the destruction of the Lantas Waru police post in East Java. During the arrests, the police confiscated 11 books from one perpetrator with the initials GLM (24). These books are considered by the police to follow the ideas of anarchism.
The titles of the 11 books that were confiscated include "Anarchism and Other Essays", a collection of essays by Emma Goldman, "What is Communist Anarchism" by Alexander Berkman, "Karl Marx" by Franz Magnis-Suseno, "The Dictators" by Jules Archer and "Guerrilla Warfare" by Che Guevara.
East Java Regional Police Chief Inspector General Nanang Avianto stressed that they do not prohibit the reading of such books by professionals as part of the deepening their understanding.
"But if it is then practiced, it means the learning process is from the book. Please read the book, but if it's not good, don't practice it", said Avianto on Thursday September 18.
Meanwhile the West Java Regional Police presented a number of books as evidence in their investigation into the chaos during demonstrations in Bandung at press conference at the West Java Police Headquarters on Tuesday September 16.
Some of the books are said to contain anarchism theory which is suspected to be a reference to the literacy of those who have been named suspects by the police.
Some of book titles presented include "Towards Anarchist Aesthetics", "Why I am an Anarchist" and "Literature and Anarchism". These books not only come from within the country, but some were bought online from abroad.
"It can be seen (the books) were an invitation to desertion, and other books, but all the narratives are at the level of anarchism", said West Java Regional Police Chief Inspector General Rudi Setiawan.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "KontraS: Polisi Masih Ketakutan terhadap Buku dan Ide-ide".]
