Activists want state security bill dropped

JAKARTA (JP): Protesters staged demonstrations in Jakarta, Semarang and Denpasar, Bali, on Monday to demand that outgoing legislators not endorse the state security bill currently under deliberation in the House of Representatives.

Some 200 activists from the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) staged a protest in front of the House/People's Consultative Assembly here on Monday morning. The activists claimed the military- sponsored bill would give the military wide-ranging authority to quell opposition and curb the freedom of the press.

Legislators are expected to endorse the bill before Sept. 24, when they end their term.

The activists from the UPC also urged the legislators to annul Law No. 23 on State Emergency, which they said gave the military too great an authority.

After staging a half-hour free speech forum in front of the House, several representatives, including Wardah Hafidz, met with members of the House's special committee deliberating the bill to voice their objections.

As the meeting was going on, scores of security personnel attempted to disperse the protesters. The demonstrators, including elderly women and teenagers, peacefully allowed the security personnel to escort them to 15 minibuses, which drove them from the site at 12:40 p.m.

Wardah said after the meeting that poor people had an interest in seeing the bill defeated.

"Poor people have always become the victims of the military's violent actions," she said.

The chief of the city police's On-Alert unit, Col. Arthur Damanik, said the police failed to identify and prevent the protesters from reaching the House.

"We had trouble identifying protesters because they dressed like normal people. Suddenly their minibuses exited the toll road," he said.

The UPC activists employed different tactics from student protesters, who have been mostly unable to reach the House in a recent series of protests. Whereas the UPC activists employed peaceful methods, the students have resorted to force in their efforts to break through a cordon of security personnel at the Senayan flyover, some 300 meters from the House.

Meanwhile, some 1,000 students from the Semarang People's Struggle and the Semarang Committee for Democracy staged a protest in Semarang on Monday to air their opposition to the state security bill.

About 100 of the protesters were allowed to meet with members of the Central Java Legislative Council and discuss the bill, while dozens of unarmed riot police officers stood outside the council building.

"Learning from past experience and history, the Indonesian Military is outstanding in creating certain situations and conditions which would lead to its political advantage," the protesters said.

"The military will still have the power to consolidate its supremacy. Therefore, the only way to prevent the supremacy of the military is by completely rejecting the bill."

In Denpasar, dozens of students from Udayana University and Warmadewa University here staged protests in two separate locations on Monday, demanding legislators scrap the state security bill.

Students from Udayana protested on their campus while the students from Warmadewa, the largest private university in the province, marched to the office of the Bali Legislative Council and delivered speeches while burning tires.

"Many political elites in this county are attempting to derail the reform movement. This bill is a clear example of their efforts to preserve military power," the protesters said.

"We suspect the government and the military will use this bill to maintain their absolute power," the group said.

Pressure has risen for legislators to kill the bill. Students and activists have warned that if the bill is endorsed, the military will be given an alibi for all of its past, present and future violations, including atrocities in Aceh, Irian Jaya and East Timor.

The bill gives the president the authority to declare a state of emergency in troubled territories. The president also is allowed to delegate his or her authority to the military, which is given free rein to put down perceived threats to state security.

The bill, if enacted, would allow the military to carry out investigations and raids, take over mail service and telecommunications and electronic facilities. An emergency situation would also allow a ban or limitation on demonstrations and print and electronic media.

In the event of a state of emergency, the bill says the military chief would be permitted to resort to any measure to restore order, even if those measures violated existing laws.

The military would also have the authority to prevent individuals from entering or leaving the country, isolate "troubled individuals and areas" and set curfews. (asa/har/50/edt)