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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration, and Law, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, ensures that the government has never banned the circulation of books. This statement follows the growing practice of police confiscating books.Yusril guarantees that the government is very open to the circulation of any type of books, including those containing leftist ideologies. "The government has long been open to left-wing books," said Yusril in a press conference on Friday, September 26, 2025.According to Yusril, the practice of banning or suppressing certain books is no longer being conducted. "Now all books are allowed; the government does not prohibit any books from being published," Yusril stated.Regarding the practice of book confiscation, Yusril stated that it is part of the legal process carried out by the police. "It's only for deepening the investigation, to see the background of the case," said Yusril.Earlier, police in various regions frequently confiscated books as evidence in cases involving riots at the end of last August. These cases occurred in Jakarta, West Java, and East Java, among others.The East Java Regional Police is known to have confiscated various books from a 24-year-old riot suspect named GLM. Some of the confiscated books include The Thoughts of Karl Marx by Franz Magnis Suseno, Anarchism by Emma Goldman, and The Dictators by Jules Archer.The Head of Public Relations of the East Java Regional Police, Commissioner Julest Abraham Abast, stated that the confiscation of books as evidence is part of the legal process. "Investigators have an obligation to gather sufficient and relevant evidence to prove a criminal act," said Abraham on Saturday, September 20, 2025.Previously, the Jakarta Metropolitan Police had confiscated books belonging to the Director of the Lokataru Foundation, Delpedro Marhaen. The police took Delpedro's books when they arrested the activist at his residence.At that time, the police had examined Delpedro's books. Three of the books were then confiscated. "Several other items were also confiscated," said Delpedro's legal counsel, Daniel Winarta, to Tempo on Friday, September 5, 2025.The West Java Regional Police also carried out efforts to confiscate books on September 17, 2025. The police confiscated several books as evidence, one of which was the novel titled This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer.Hammam Izzuddin contributed to the writing of this articleEditor's Choice: Indonesian Govt Pushes Students to Read Books Aligned with National ValuesClick here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
