Dozens of activists of Patriot Garuda Nusantara (PGN) on Monday, May 20, 2024, came to the venue of the People’s Water Forum (PWF) in Bali and asked the event organizer and participants to disband.
The group members forcibly seized banners, billboards, and agenda attributes for the event, which was intended as a forum to criticize water privatization and encourage water management for people’s welfare. They even physically abused several event participants.
“The group forced the committee and participants of PWF 2024 to dissolve the agenda in regards with the verbal appeal by Acting Bali Governor for the success of the government-organized 10th World Water Forum in Bali,” Rezky Pratiwi of the Bali Legal Aid Institute said.
“It should be noted that the governor’s appeal does not have the legal grounds and in fact violates provisions in the Indonesian Constitution that guarantee freedom of assembly and expression,” she added.
Previously, several committee members of the PWF had received intimidation and terror from state apparatus, asking them not to hold the event. The committee also was denied approval to hold the event in a number of venues after the venue managers admitted that they had also been intimidated.
Rezky said the recurrence of similar incidents in the momentum of international forum events held in the country is a violation of human rights and against the freedom of assembly, speech, and expression.
This phenomenon, she added, further proves the absence of the State’s commitment to promote and respect freedom of expression for its people under the pretext of securing investment from investors that there should be no ‘disturbance’ towards the government-organized events.
