Researchers reject draft security bill<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's top researchers join the chorus in
\nrejecting the draft bill on state security saying that it will be
\nused to give much larger power to the President than it was
\nduring the Soeharto era.<\/p>\n
\"The bill offers a justification to the state to use violence
\nwhich is detrimental for the nascent civil society and a
\njustification to the Indonesian Military to dominate the
\npolitical life of the nation even more than during the Soeharto
\nera, as well as a legitimacy to take over power,\" Mochtar
\nPabottingi said in a press conference here Friday.<\/p>\n
Mochtar attacked the rationale behind the drafting of the
\nbill. He said it was Habibie's administration, as an extension of
\nthe New Order, which had first rendered grave damage on the
\ncountry, and that it was now this very administration that wanted
\nto rescue it from its deterioration.<\/p>\n
\"The government has no right to issue the bill because it has
\nabused the emergency policy for decades even under non-emergency
\nconditions,\" said the head of Research and Development Center for
\nPolitics and Area Studies at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
\n(LIPI).<\/p>\n
He also read out a statement rejecting the bill signed by 50
\nLIPI researchers including himself.<\/p>\n
He added that efforts to save the country from its sorry state
\ncan no longer be executed by those involved in the government.<\/p>\n
LIPI, therefore, urged an end to deliberations on the bill at
\nthe House of Representatives and invited all supporters of the
\nreform forces to oppose the bill, Mochtar said.<\/p>\n
LIPI also called for discontinuation of deliberations of other
\nbills in the House because the result of the June 7 elections had
\nbeen endorsed.<\/p>\n
Muladi has said the law stressed human rights, regarding the
\nright of security of people affected by, among other things,
\ndemonstrations. The law requires police notification for
\ndemonstrations.<\/p>\n
The bill is a refinement of previous law on state security.<\/p>\n
Mochtar said the implementation of the law, once the bill is
\npassed, would be tantamount to robbing the sovereignty of the
\npeople.<\/p>\n
Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a senior LIPI researcher, said the bill
\nwould give the President unlimited power by stipulating that
\nPresident declares emergency after consulting the Council for
\nSecurity and Legal System (DPKSH) and the Council for National
\nDefense and Security (Wanhankamnas).<\/p>\n
These are two institutions founded by the military and
\npresided over by the President himself.<\/p>\n
\"It's a big lie if Wiranto said that the bill ratification
\nwill limit the President's power and that it will secure
\npolitical reform and human rights protection,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Mochtar said the bill was drafted to reaffirm policy and
\npractices of the military in the political domain by giving
\nexcessive power to suppress opposition groups,<\/p>\n
He said that it would initiate absolute and unlimited power to
\nthe President and military commander by leaving out people's
\naspiration in the process.<\/p>\n
The bill, he said, is seen as an obstruction to political
\nreform and is a new weapon for the military to ensure a
\ncontinuing monitoring of the people as the state's enemy.<\/p>\n
Its substances are in contradiction to the Pancasila state
\nideology, he said, as well as the Universal Declaration on Human
\nRights.<\/p>\n
The bill seeks to perpetuate a distorted view that the
\nIndonesian Military is the only institution which is the most
\nloyal to the state and the Constitution and that it is an
\n\"exclusive group\" and \"first class citizens\", he said.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the people are seen as \"second class
\ncitizens\" who are the source of all social maladies like riots,
\ndisintegration and conflict, he said. (06)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/researchers-reject-draft-security-bill-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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