Govt to scrap draconian subversion law<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government moved on Wednesday to discard the
\ninfamous 1963 Subversion Law, but proposed its replacement with
\ninclusion of six new articles on \"crimes against the state\" in
\nthe Criminal Code.<\/p>\n
Minister of Justice Muladi told a House of Representatives
\nplenary session the additional articles would accommodate
\nelements of the law \"which are still relevant\".<\/p>\n
\"(It is needed) so that the condition of a legal vacuum does
\nnot occur,\" Muladi told the session presided over by deputy
\nspeaker Ismail Hasan Metareum.<\/p>\n
He also said a bill on the state's safety and security would
\nsoon be submitted by the defense and security minister.<\/p>\n
The latter bill, as stipulated in decree No. 10\/1998 of the
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly, is meant as the \"replacement\" of
\nthe subversion law.<\/p>\n
Muladi said the proposed bill would not be a blanket
\nsubstitute because \"it deals more with such things as a state of
\nemergency and martial law\".<\/p>\n
He described it as allowing the Armed Forces to take effective
\nmeasures to cope with unrest.<\/p>\n
Articles proposed for inclusion in the Criminal Code, coded
\narticle 107a through 107f, would regulate crimes that endanger
\nthe state's Pancasila ideology, ones pertaining to the spread of
\nMarxism-Leninism and acts of sabotage of state or military
\ninstallations or distribution of basic essentials.<\/p>\n
Unlike the subversion law that threatens violators with the
\ndeath penalty, the proposal would carry a maximum 20-year prison
\nterm.<\/p>\n
\"By integrating (the still relevant) elements of the 1963 law
\ninto the Criminal Code, it should altogether mean that the
\neffective procedural code is the Criminal Code Procedures,\"
\nMuladi told the House.<\/p>\n
Under the subversion law, law enforcers are authorized to
\ndetain alleged violators for a maximum of one year for
\nquestioning. Under the Criminal Code Procedures, the maximum
\npermitted is 60 days.<\/p>\n
\"A perennial criticism of the subversion law regards its
\nprocedures (of investigating alleged violators), that it breaches
\nthe Criminal Code Procedures,\" Muladi told journalists after the
\nsession.<\/p>\n
Criminal Code<\/p>\n
Asked why there was no complete overhaul of the Criminal Code,
\nMuladi said a decision could only be made after legislators were
\nelected in the June elections.<\/p>\n
Legal experts -- including Muladi before he became a minister
\n-- have long called a more contemporary replacement for the 1946
\nCriminal Code.<\/p>\n
Many argued its earlier submission would have stopped the toll
\nfrom the subversion law, frequently described as draconian and
\ninhumane.<\/p>\n
The Criminal Code does not have provisions on subversion,
\nwhich justified the government's use of the subversion law.<\/p>\n
The bill is said to consist of more than 600 articles with the
\nbill drafters including Muladi. For more than 12 years a panel of
\nexperts at the Agency for the Development of National Laws has
\ndeliberated the new Criminal Code bill. In 1993, it was
\nreportedly concluded.<\/p>\n
In 1997, the National Commission on Human Rights also called
\non the government to repeal the subversion law.<\/p>\n
The law prohibits activities that could be labeled subversive,
\nsuch as attempts to topple the government, undermine the
\nPancasila state ideology and express sympathy with the country's
\nfoes. It extends to the damaging of a public facility.<\/p>\n
Legal experts decry it as easy to manipulate and for providing
\nthe government with the sole authority to define what constitutes
\na subversive act.<\/p>\n
The law was applied in the late 1960s against the Indonesian
\nCommunist Party, since banned, for its staging of a bloody coup
\nattempt. It was also used to deal with anti-New Order
\ndemonstrations during the late 1970s.<\/p>\n
In recent years, it was the legal basis to arrest Democratic
\nPeople's Party (PRD) activists and labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan.
\n(aan)<\/p>",
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