JAKARTA (UCAN) – A Jesuit priest is backing a judicial review of a law which bans books deemed detrimental to public order.

More than 40 books have been banned in the last 30 years since the law was ratified

A request for the review of the 1963 law was submitted in late February by several NGOs to the Constitutional Court. The first hearing was conducted mid-March, while the second was held April 5.

“This review must be done because the law was drafted under the Old Order regime and is no longer relevant to today’s context,” Jesuit Father Franz Magnis-Suseno, a lecturer at the Jesuit-run Driyarkara School of Philosophy in Jakarta, told UCA News April 6.

“The law must be revoked since it is contrary to the 1945 Constitution,” he added.

His book, Pemikiran Karl Marx: Dari Sosialisme Utopis ke Perselisihan Revisionisme (Karl Marx’s Thoughts: From Utopian Socialism to Revisionism Conflict), is one of 41 books banned under the existing law.

In April 2001, members of the Anti-Communist Front burned books regarded as leftwing, including Father Magnis-Suseno’s book.

“The book is not about Marxism,” Father Magnis-Suseno said.

According to him, banning books is against people’s fundamental rights, “which must be respected.”

The priest, however, agreed that books containing pornography and false allegations should be banned.

During the second hearing, Gatot Goei, lawyer for the NGOs, urged the court to review the law, which he said was contrary to articles in the 1945 Constitution guaranteeing people’s freedom to express their opinions and obtain information.

Goei said the 1963 law has allowed people to burn books and commit violent acts against authors. “In fact, people write books to develop the nation,” he remarked.

In his view, the law “is a betrayal of intellectual and democratic values.”

He urged the court to revoke the law, which has seen writers and readers “jailed or fined.”