Exclusionary Nationalism as Institutionalised Racism: Inconsistencies within the Indonesian Justice System

Post Soeharto, the protection of political expression has remained arbitrarily enforced within Indonesia. The right of its citizens to peacefully protest is constantly at risk. To mitigate this risk, the 2017 ruling of the Constitutional Court limited the interpretation of arts 106 and 110 of the Criminal Code. However, a distortion of the law remains in practice. This paper compares two cases: one involving racist incidents against Papuans in Surabaya and the second involving the charging and trial of Papuan student and political leaders who were arrested on treason charges for exercising their right to peacefully protest these racist crimes. We provide a socio-legal analysis of these cases, referencing the legal arguments and rebuttals put forward. In the first case, we find that the state apparatus did not appreciate the gravity of the offences when sentencing the perpetrators of racially motivated attacks. In the second case, we find that the lack of consideration afforded to evidentiary burdens and binding principles of international human rights law have caused a distortion of these laws in practice. We argue a racialised political hierarchy enables Papuans to be stigmatised by state officials as unworthy of legal rights afforded to other citizens.