Antiterrorism bill should not be retroactive: Official<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The antiterrorism bill the government submitted to the House of
\nRepresentatives (DPR) on Thursday does not leave any room for the
\nadoption of the retroactive principle, a government official said
\nSunday.<\/p>\n
Director of law and legislation at the Ministry of Justice and
\nHuman Rights Abdul Gani Abdullah said that unlike the current
\ngovernment regulations in lieu of law No. 1\/2002 on
\nantiterrorism, the antiterrorism bill did not recognize the
\nretroactive principle.<\/p>\n
\"We did not use the retroactive principle in the general
\nantiterrorism bill ... we will apply it in the special bill to
\nsolve the Oct. 12 terrorist attack on Bali,\" Abdul Gani told The
\nJakarta Post on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The government submitted on Thursday four antiterrorism bills
\nto the House for deliberation. Two bills pertain to two
\ngovernment regulations in lieu of law, one antiterrorism bill,
\nand the other one on the implementation of an antiterrorism law
\non the Oct. 12 terrorist attacks in Bali which killed more than
\n190 people and injured over 300 others.<\/p>\n
Abdul Wahid, director of law formulation at the ministry, told
\nthe Post on Sunday that there was no clause linking the
\nantiterrorism bill with the one on the implementation of the
\nantiterrorism bill in the Bali attacks.<\/p>\n
\"Basically it's not right to implement the retroactive
\nprinciple but I think we'll leave it to the House to decide
\nwhether or not to use the principle,\" Abdul Wahid said.<\/p>\n
At present, the country has two government regulations in lieu
\nof law on antiterrorism and an antiterrorism act on the Bali
\nbombing attack issued as an emergency response to the Oct. 12
\nBali bombing.<\/p>\n
But due to their nature, the rulings will only be in force
\nuntil a law is enacted.<\/p>\n
According to Abdul Gani, the antiterrorism bill was slightly
\ndifferent from the regulation in lieu of law.<\/p>\n
Under the bill, an intelligence report must be approved by the
\nNational Intelligence Agency chief before judges declare it as
\npreliminary evidence to arrest a terrorist suspect, he said.<\/p>\n
The article had sparked protests from human rights activists,
\nfearing that it would be abused by those in power to seize people
\narbitrarily without concrete evidence.<\/p>\n
There was also a clause that allowed witnesses to use
\nteleconferencing should he or she be unable to come to court.<\/p>\n
The government urged the House to prioritize the deliberation
\nof the antiterrorism bill rather than three other bills. The
\ngovernment said it wanted the antiterrorism bill to be signed
\ninto law by the end of the year at the latest.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, legislators were divided on Sunday over the use of
\nthe retroactive principle in the antiterrorism bill.<\/p>\n
Yasril Ananta Baharuddin of the Golkar faction said
\nretroactive principle must be used to try perpetrators of the
\nBali bombing attacks.<\/p>\n
\"There's no other way but to add the clause to the bill. We
\nneed the retroactive clause for such an extraordinary crime that
\nwe have never before experienced,\" he told the Post<\/p>\n
He, however, added that an extra cause stipulating that the
\nretroactive principle would be used to try the culprits of the
\nBali attacks must also be added in the bill.<\/p>\n
Imam Addaruqutni of the Reform faction, however, rejected the
\ninclusion of retroactive principle in the antiterrorism bill,
\nsaying that no law was ever enacted to try past crimes.<\/p>\n
\"I think we can try the perpetrators and masterminds of the
\nBali blasts using the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedures Code and
\ninternational conventions,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Ori Rahman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims
\nof Violence (Kontras) and Fadjrul Falaakh of the National Law
\nCommission (KHN) said earlier that all perpetrators of terrorist
\nactivities could be charged under the Criminal Code particularly
\narticles 187 and 340.<\/p>\n
Article 187 of the code stipulates that those who
\nintentionally cause explosions and fires could face life
\nimprisonment.<\/p>\n
Article 340 states that those who commit premeditated murder
\ncould face the death penalty.<\/p>",
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