ABRI defends legislation on subversion
ABRI defends legislation on subversion
JAKARTA (JP): The newly-installed assistant to the Armed Forces Chief of socio-political affairs, Brig. Gen. Suwarno Adiwijoyo, defended the controversial anti-subversive law yesterday.
Amidst the efforts of some in society to have the No. 11, 1963 law revoked for trampling on people's basic rights, Suwarno said that the law is still necessary because the existing Criminal Code does not cover sanctions for subversive activities.
He also rejected the view that the law restricts the public's freedom. "The anti-subversive law remains valid until a new law dealing with subversion is established," he said.
He pointed out that revoking a law without replacing it would create holes in the legal system, a condition which may endanger the country's security and survival.
The drive to have the anti-subversive law revoked is being spearheaded by the National Commission on Human Rights. It called late last year for a review on laws which were produced decades ago, and are no longer relevant.
The commission has also embarked on the legal review mission of its own. It is examining the anti-subversive law first, which it considers contradictory to a democratic legal system and ignores the people's aspirations.
The commission's deputy chairman, Marzuki Darusman, said there are articles in the law which violate people's basic rights. He argued that the Criminal Code, known by its local acronym of KUHP, already has adequate provisions to protect the people and the nation against subversion.
Suwarno yesterday reminded the public to be critical of the push to have the law revoked, and called on the advocates for legal review to present more solid reasons, rather than be motivated merely by an antipathy to this law.
"People have to think clearly and consider the reasons for the existence of the anti-subversive law," he was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying. "It was established to protect the nation's survival".
Citing the use of the 1963 law to prevent any efforts to create instability or insurgence, Suwarno said that similar laws exist in many other countries.
He named Malaysia as an example.
Suwarno also named a number of subversive cases which have popped up in Indonesia over the past decades, such as the Sept. 1965 coup attempt by the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), 31 years ago.
He also identified the January 1974 student demonstrations, which were accompanied by rioting which inflicted massive damage on property, as well as the 1989 rebellion by a separatist Moslem group led by a man called Warsidi in Lampung.
Suwarno said that the Ministry of Defense is currently working on its own draft to replace the anti-subversive law.
"The new document will still contain articles to prevent subversive activities, only in greater detail, to facilitate implementation, " he said.
A support for the legal review drive came yesterday from legal expert Andi Hamzah, formerly head of the Research and Development Division of the Attorney General's Office.
"We do not need the anti-subversive law because all sanctions against subversion are already included in Chapter I of the Criminal Code," he told The Jakarta Post over the phone last night.
The law is no longer relevant to present conditions, he said. "It was created for when the country faces an emergency, like it did during the revolution," he said. "We are not in the middle of a revolution, are we?" he asked. (imn)