"In Indonesia it is free to express opinions but there are rules of the game to adhere to. They must honor the rules in Indonesia. If later it is found it has embezzled funds it must be given sanctions," Rudy Gani said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Greenpeace Indonesia has been urged to open up or tell about its management of funds it has received from the public or donors.

"Greenpeace Indonesia must be open and explain transparently to the people about the funds because they are collected from the public," the chairman of the Special Committee on Social Organizations Bill, Abdul Malik Haramain, said here on Monday.

The politician from the National Awakening Party said he supported the step of the Reject Foreign NGO Students Alliance to question the management of the public funds of Greenpeace Indonesia based on Public Information Disclosure Act.

With regard to foreign funds received by Greenpeace Indonesia, Malik said, according to Law Number 8 of 1985 on Social Organizations they must be given with a prior approval of the government.

Article 13 Point B and C of the law states the government may freeze the board or the central board of a social organization that receives financial aid from foreign parties without prior consent of the government or gives funds to foreign parties that harm the interest of the state and nation.

"The Bill on Social Organization currently being discussed by the House of Representatives and the government meanwhile states in Article 41 of Chapter 14 on foreign social organizations that a foreign organization is not allowed to collect funds from the Indonesian public," he said.

On a separate occasion, the coordinator of the Reject Foreign NGOs Students Alliance, Rudy Gani, said although Greenpeace has met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono it does not mean it is immune and may act at will.

"In Indonesia it is free to express opinions but there are rules of the game to adhere to. They must honor the rules in Indonesia. If later it is found it has embezzled funds it must be given sanctions," he said.

He admitted he had suspicion the organization which is headquartered in the Netherlands had covered up the flows of the funds and their use.

In view of that he had again sent a letter to ask for information based on the Law on Public Information Disclosure to Greenpeace Indonesia last Thursday because the explanation it received from the organization before did not give details.

"Greenpeace Indonesia that always puts forward transparency certainly has detailed reports about each donor and the amount of funds it had received. Even if the amount of the funds it received was not fixed they had certainly been recorded well," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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