Academics propose intelligence bill

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A working group of military, legal and political analysts has completed the draft of a new bill on intelligence aimed at restoring the badly tarnished image of state intelligence agencies.

Andi Widjajanto, spokesman for the Working Group for Reform of State Intelligence, said the bill would soon be proposed to the House of Representatives after being discussed further with the relevant non-governmental organizations.

"We are working hard to include the bill in one package with two other bills -- one on witness protection and another on state secrets -- which are being deliberated at the House," he told a media conference here on Tuesday.

The working group was supported by the Pacivis Research Agency at the University of Indonesia and financed by UNDP and the Partnership in Governance Reform.

Andi called on the House to use its right to propose the bill for deliberation with the government as a new legal basis for the functioning of intelligence agencies in the country.

The draft stipulates that state intelligence agencies have three core tasks of gathering information and analyzing it as well as forecasting before issuing an early warning on anything that could jeopardize the state and national security.

"All state institutions that have a role in state intelligence are no longer allowed to use force, intelligence agents are unarmed and they are not law enforcers," said Andi, also a lecturer with the University of Indonesia.

The bill also recommends the establishment of a state intelligence coordinating institute (LKIN) with the main task of coordinating all state institutions playing intelligence roles. These institutions include the Indonesian Military, the National Police, the Attorney General's Office and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

"LKIN is a civilian body and is subordinate to the president as the head of state. Its operation is covered by the state budget and its activities supervised by the House," Andi said.

Cornelis Lay, a political analyst from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the bill aimed to correct the state policy that puts national security above all else, including democracy and human rights.

"The current concept of state intelligence was produced by president Soeharto's authoritarian regime and is no longer relevant. National security is as important as democracy and human rights. We can no longer abandon everything for the sake of national security," he said.

The bill also aims to correct the National Intelligence Agency (BIN)'s failure to coordinate with other relevant state institutions.

"BIN is extremely powerful but it lacks coordination with the police, military and other institutions in detecting terror threats. Its failure lies not in the absence of authority to arrest those whose activities harm the state but in the absence of coordination with the police authorized to arrest people," he said, adding it was very risky to allow intelligence agents to arrest suspects.

Cornelis said the bill's content was far better than the one which was dropped by the House.

"Before designing the bill, the working group read a lot of literature on intelligence and intelligence laws of Boznia, South Africa, the United States, Canada and Israel," he said.

Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a political researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), criticized BIN's performance, saying it had functioned like Antara national news agency. He did not elaborate.

"In collecting information, BIN should be able to provide complex but accurate reports from various sources," he said.

Eyebox:

Code of ethics for intelligence agents proposed in the bill

Agents shall: 1. Comply with the state, Constitution and state institutions 2. Comply with the law and other regulations 3. Respect human rights 4. Carry out their tasks as a public service 5. Maintain secrecy 6. Maintain political neutrality 7. Not use force and repression 8. Not belong to any organization outside the intelligence agency 9. Not work on the basis of race, religion or ideological sentiments 10. Be punished if they abuse their position