After
several postponements and fierce criticism, a bill drafted for mass
organization will be legalized this month. Societal dynamics mean that Law
No. 8/1985 on mass organizations is no longer adequate for accommodating and
guaranteeing the freedom to establish a union, to congregate and to express
opinions as stated in the 1945 Constitution.
There are suspicions that the bill contains strong elements of control. The
government is of the opinion that the bill is needed in a practical sense,
including for enforcing order in relation to the conduct of mass
organizations, which often cause societal disturbances. The bill is
expected to provide a legal basis for enforcing order.
The bill has lost two basic aspects needed for a law. First, it fails to
capture societal dynamics and second, it lacks a focus on the
accountability of organizations to society.
At present, there is a wide range of institutions emanating from society,
with various legal statuses and memberships, such as associations of
industries, professions, religious institutions, charities, educational
institutions, political parties, foundations, societies (perkumpulan), ethnic groups,
orphanages and the like. These institutions work for society and resources
come from society, either directly or indirectly, but they are not yet
regulated sufficiently in a comprehensive bill.
The bill for mass organizations needs to provide a legal umbrella for these
institutions and for other forms that may emerge in the future.
All forms of organizations previously mentioned share a similarity: They
are not profit oriented. This means that what we need is not a mass
organization bill, but a nonprofit organization bill.
The bill will serve as an umbrella, a foundation law for regulating
associations and even other laws such as on pramuka (scouts), political
parties, the National Sports Council (KONI), the Indonesian Red Cross and
more.
Within a nonprofit scope, society is free to establish mass organizations
in various forms, with a flexible scope of activities. The function of
government in this case is to facilitate registration and ensure
transparency and accountability to society. The Home Ministry will need to
more proactively facilitate the registration of these mass organizations.
The list of mass organizations at the ministry is currently below 1,000. In
reality, the number of NGOs, foundations and associations is far beyond
that.
Another aspect not included [in this regulation] is accountability. The
bill does not regulate how mass organizations are accountable for funding
sources and their utilization in society, as well as lacking in
transparency requirements.
This is in contrast to the strength of the nonprofit sector. The legitimacy
of the nonprofit sector depends on its transparency and accountability to
society.
Other sectors, public and private, have established their mechanisms for
accountability. The third sector, civil society, is the third pillar for
nation building.
It is a common per ception that this pillar trails behind the other two,
even though it has been present for quite some time.
The absence of an accountability mechanism gives room for misconduct. Civil
society organizations are being abused as business ventures and are
therefore not paying taxes.
It is a similar situation with organizations that collect funds from
society without responsibility for reporting the utilization of these
funds. Simply put, organizations exploit conditions in society to gain
funding from donor or government organizations. These organizations claim
to be society-based organizations, without society feeling that they are
represented and without society having any knowledge of such organizations.
The registration of non-profit organizations to the government is not a
mechanism of control. Each organization needs to register to be assisted
with its accountability measures in the long term. Then the Home Ministry
can establish a database and website containing financial and operational
reports of all registered organizations.
This can lead to better mechanisms to enforce regulations. Organizations
that do not submit their reports can be removed from the list. Society can
get guarantees of the legitimacy of an organization by accessing the
website and the government can provide assurances of transparency and
accountability for each organization listed there. ●
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