Antiterror raids raise hackles

Antiterror raids raise hackles

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Large-scale raids to find those responsible for the latest Bali
bombings have caused unease among some sections of the public,
and those who feel they have been unfairly treated have been
urged to file complaints against the police.

A number of legislators and human rights activists said here
on Thursday that those affected by abuses during the police-led
antiterror raids should sue the authorities.

"Following the recent Bali bombings, the government has been
cracking down on terrorists, and since then we have recorded a
series of incidents of unacceptable treatment, including
arbitrary arrests," Golkar legislator Yuddy Chrisnady told a
joint press conference held with several non-governmental
organizations (NGOs).

He argued that such arrests contravened the newly ratified
United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The arrests were mostly made without warrants and the suspects
were interrogated without having legal counsel present, Yuddy
said.

"Nor were any efforts made to restore the good name of those
later released by the police due to lack of evidence," he added.

He said another abuse involved the use of information from the
state intelligence services for investigation purposes without
the seeking of court approval by the police.

The Antiterrorism Law requires the police to secure court
approval for the use of such intelligence information in
investigating acts of terrorism.

Usman Hamid from the National Commission on Missing Persons
and Victims of Violence (Kontras) expressed similar views, citing
as an example the arrest of Ahmad Djaelani on Rote island, East
Nusa Tenggara, days after the Oct. 1 Bali attacks.

Djaelani was thought to resemble Malaysian fugitive Azahari
bin Husin, an alleged key leader of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).

"Police officers dragged Djaelani from his home and did
nothing to stop angry locals from beating and kicking him. Later
on, he was released but he almost got killed because of the
unfounded accusation," Usman said.

Yuddy blamed poor coordination among intelligence agencies for
the government's failure to stop the terror attacks, which began
to hit the country in 2000.

Meanwhile, Benny K. Harman, a legislator from the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the Indonesian
Military's expressed intention of reactivating its territorial
commands to help combat terrorism would only result in the common
people being treated as the "enemies of the state".

"As long as the government fails to change its mind-set, I
don't think that democracy will really take root here."

Yuddy and Benny said they would encourage their fellow
politicians to summon senior military, police and state
intelligence officers to evaluate what he said was the
government's poor showing in protecting the people.

"The government should not blame innocent people for its own
failure to provide security," said Benny.

Yuddy also said he would call for a meeting to discuss what
the military should do to assist the police in the fight against
terrorism.