An intelligence service for the President

An intelligence service for the President

The more intelligence agencies a regime maintains, the more it
tends to be cruel. That, at least, is the conviction of liberals
and democrats. For that reason, in countries that profess to be
based on civil democratic principles and don't want to be called
cruel, the number of intelligence agencies is trimmed to a
minimum.

Whether or not Indonesia is a cruel country is a matter that
is open to endless debate. However, it certainly has a
considerable number of intelligence agencies -- such as Bakin
(National Intelligence Coordinating Agency), BIA (Army
Intelligence) and Bais (Military Strategic Intelligence).
Besides, the public prosecutor's offices, the police and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs have their own intelligence services.

Now, the government feels that all those intelligence bodies
are not enough. Defense minister Mohammad Mahfud, in a working
session with the House of Representatives' Commission I last
Wednesday, revealed the government's plans to set up a new
intelligence agency whose task -- and this is what makes it
special -- is to provide information to the President,
exclusively.

The minister did not elaborate further on the plan but we are
inclined to believe that if this idea had come from President
Abdurrahman Wahid, then the President may be having problems
working with the existing intelligence services, in terms of
either access or credibility. Even so, the solution is not to set
up a special agency to serve the President because, as has
already been said, intelligence services are symbols of mistrust
and cruelty. It would be highly ironical if Gus Dur (Abdurrahman
Wahid), who was elected in the name of reconciliation and peace,
should start to develop a culture of mistrust by using
intelligence officers.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta