Jakarta, InfoPublik - The Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Coordinating Minister Mahfud MD said the government is currently encouraging the restorative justice approach.

“The government does not prohibit any persons to express their opinion in the pandemic time, as long as they adhere to health protocol," he said. "Currently, we encourage law enforcement institutions to apply restorative justice. So, people should not be arrested and brought to court easily,” he said in a meeting with the University of Indonesia's (UI) Alumni and Student Associations representatives on Monday, 31 May.

The representatives came to the office to voice their concern over the suspect determination against nine UI students involved in the National Education Day rally last May, quoted from the Ministry's press release. Previously, Surya Yudipura, UI's Faculty of Law Student Association chairman, was also named as one of the suspects.

The UI representatives are Bachtiar Firdaus, Donny Gahral, Berly Martawardaya, and Syaeful Mujab from UI alumni; Leon Alvinda Putra, UI students association chair; and Nadya Jessica, UI Law Faculty's student association deputy chair.

They also presented a petition signed by UI alumni and students from various years and faculties demanding the National Police Chief to stop the legal process and void the suspect statuses of nine National Education Day 2021 rally participants.

Furthermore, Minister Mahfud promised to ask about the case development to the Police.

The petition also demanded the issuance of guidance for rallies in the pandemic time so the police can still carry out community protection and not use health protocol reasons to limit the citizens' freedom of expression.

We really appreciate Minister Mahfud's willingness to accept and listen to our inputs about it, said Leon Alvinda Putra. The nine persons are not detained, but they get suspect statuses.

In the meeting, they also discussed democracy and law enforcement in Indonesia.

Minister Mahfud underlined all parties must monitor democracy and law enforcement in the country. “The challenges are how to enforce the law and at the same time, maintain the quality of democracy,” he said. (Photo: Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Coordinating Ministry Public Relations, Writer: Yudi Rahmat, Editor: Wawan Budiyanto, Translator: Filmon Leonard Warouw)