Criminalising justice
Herlambang P Wiratraman
“Honourable panel of judges, once again, people’s lives, happiness, prosperity and peace have been disrupted! The impact of the gold mining activities in the Tumpang Pitu protected forest area has caused real misery to the local community. I reject the mine because my life has been affected by the dangers of mining. I am fighting for a protected forest in the Tumpang Pitu mountain area, facing destruction by a gold mine”
Heri Budiawan
Appeal session, Banyuwangi, 9 January 2018
Two decades after the beginning of reformasi, anti-communist sentiment is still everywhere in Indonesia. Until today, ‘the ghost of communism’, or of the PKI (Indonesian Communist Party), is invoked to silence criticism and even to politicise legal issues. The role of the military is still often seen as ‘saving the nation’ and as the symbolic bulwark of political stability.