House urged to drop state security bill<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Observers urged the House of Representatives on
\nThursday to drop a controversial bill on state security, citing
\nloopholes for power and rights abuses they found in the document.<\/p>\n
Clementino dos Reis Amaral of the National Commission on Human
\nRights said the bill, submitted to the House in May by the
\nMinistry of Defense, was against reform and democracy. He was
\nspeaking at a seminar, which also featured Amien Aryoso and Usep
\nRanawidjaja of the Rectors Forum.<\/p>\n
He said the House would meet opposition from all quarters if
\nit continued to deliberate the bill. He cited the bill's most
\ncontroversial point was the stipulation which granted the
\nPresident and military leadership full authority to enforce a
\nstate of emergency without consulting legislative bodies.<\/p>\n
\"The bill also allows the executive and the military, when
\nfacing crucial situations, to take illegal action, to recruit
\nindividuals for military duty, to gag the media and to isolate
\nblacklisted individuals,\" he said, adding that the bill gave the
\nexecutive ruler supremacy above the law.<\/p>\n
Criticism poured in on the bill, including from a number of
\nlegislators, law practitioners, the rights body and mass
\norganizations concerned with human rights and democracy in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The government and military defended the bill, saying it was
\nsimilar to security acts in other countries, including the United
\nStates, Britain and Japan.<\/p>\n
The House gave a positive response to the criticism and said
\nit was open to suggestions on how to introduce changes to the
\nbill.<\/p>\n
Amien said the bill was worse than the 1959 law on
\nimplementation of a state of emergency and the other one enforced
\nby the Dutch colonial government. \"According to the two previous
\nlaws, a state of emergency which was formerly known as staat van
\noorlog een beleg (\"state of war and siege\") must be declared by
\nthe authorities after consultation with the House of
\nRepresentatives,\" he said at the seminar.<\/p>\n
He said the bill should also make clear when a state of
\ncivilian emergency, military emergency or war emergency should be
\ndeclared. The distinction was needed so current and next
\ngovernments would be prevented from enforcing the bill on
\nsituations such as labor strikes, student brawls and the present
\ntension in Aceh and Maluku.<\/p>\n
Amien and Amaral agreed that not only did the current House
\nhave no legitimacy, but it did not even have enough time to
\nprocess a strategic document before the next House was to be
\nsworn in.<\/p>\n
\"The bill should be dropped because it was made by President
\nB.J. Habibie's government, which is really a continuation of
\nformer president Soeharto's repressive regime,\" Usep said.<\/p>\n
He said that many laws, including ones made by Habibie's
\ntransitional government, should be amended by the next government
\nbecause they were against the democracy and reform movement.<\/p>\n
Violence<\/p>\n
Separately, military observer Hasnan Habib said on Thursday
\nIndonesia never witnessed one truly peaceful day that encompassed
\nthe whole country since Independence Day on Aug. 17, 1945.<\/p>\n
\"It did not happen even during the New Order regime which was
\nproud because it established peace and stability in the country,\"
\nHasnan said. He was speaking at a book launch hosted by the
\nCenter for Study on Humanitarian Law at the Trisakti University
\nin cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross
\n(ICRC) to commemorate the anniversary of the 1949 Geneva
\nConvention on Humanitarian Law.<\/p>\n
Titled Traditional Laws of War in Indonesia, the book is a
\npopular version of a study by the center on traditional
\nhumanitarian laws in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"The study shows that laws of war have existed in Indonesia
\nsince early times and... were in line with modern humanitarian
\nlaws,\" said Toni Pfanner, the head of the Regional Delegation of
\nICRC.<\/p>\n
Hasnan cited various unrests in Indonesia since 1945,
\nincluding the ongoing violence in Aceh where military operations
\ntook place for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
Military intervention in Aceh was excessive and it looked like
\nthe Indonesian Military did not understand humanitarian law,
\nHasnan said. \"They only know one principle, to kill or be
\nkilled,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"This has given us the reputation as a nation of savages and
\ncannibals,\" he said, referring to further violence in West
\nKalimantan, Maluku and East Timor.<\/p>\n
In a related development, a group of human rights activists
\nestablished on Thursday an independent team for the
\nreinvestigation of cases of rights violations which were frozen
\nby the government.<\/p>\n
Senior journalist Goenawan Mohamad cited the case of slain
\nlabor activist Marsinah as among one of the first to be handled
\nby the team called Jejak. The next would probably be those in
\nAceh \"where torture, killing and violence are committed in the
\nname of the Republic of Indonesia,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Members of the board of founders include Arief Budiman, Ariel
\nHeryanto, Aristides Katoppo, Nurcholis Madjid and Emil Salim.
\n(05\/10\/rms)<\/p>",
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