Antiterrorism bill should not be retroactive: Official
Antiterrorism bill should not be retroactive: Official
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The antiterrorism bill the government submitted to the House of
Representatives (DPR) on Thursday does not leave any room for the
adoption of the retroactive principle, a government official said
Sunday.
Director of law and legislation at the Ministry of Justice and
Human Rights Abdul Gani Abdullah said that unlike the current
government regulations in lieu of law No. 1/2002 on
antiterrorism, the antiterrorism bill did not recognize the
retroactive principle.
"We did not use the retroactive principle in the general
antiterrorism bill ... we will apply it in the special bill to
solve the Oct. 12 terrorist attack on Bali," Abdul Gani told The
Jakarta Post on Sunday.
The government submitted on Thursday four antiterrorism bills
to the House for deliberation. Two bills pertain to two
government regulations in lieu of law, one antiterrorism bill,
and the other one on the implementation of an antiterrorism law
on the Oct. 12 terrorist attacks in Bali which killed more than
190 people and injured over 300 others.
Abdul Wahid, director of law formulation at the ministry, told
the Post on Sunday that there was no clause linking the
antiterrorism bill with the one on the implementation of the
antiterrorism bill in the Bali attacks.
"Basically it's not right to implement the retroactive
principle but I think we'll leave it to the House to decide
whether or not to use the principle," Abdul Wahid said.
At present, the country has two government regulations in lieu
of law on antiterrorism and an antiterrorism act on the Bali
bombing attack issued as an emergency response to the Oct. 12
Bali bombing.
But due to their nature, the rulings will only be in force
until a law is enacted.
According to Abdul Gani, the antiterrorism bill was slightly
different from the regulation in lieu of law.
Under the bill, an intelligence report must be approved by the
National Intelligence Agency chief before judges declare it as
preliminary evidence to arrest a terrorist suspect, he said.
The article had sparked protests from human rights activists,
fearing that it would be abused by those in power to seize people
arbitrarily without concrete evidence.
There was also a clause that allowed witnesses to use
teleconferencing should he or she be unable to come to court.
The government urged the House to prioritize the deliberation
of the antiterrorism bill rather than three other bills. The
government said it wanted the antiterrorism bill to be signed
into law by the end of the year at the latest.
Meanwhile, legislators were divided on Sunday over the use of
the retroactive principle in the antiterrorism bill.
Yasril Ananta Baharuddin of the Golkar faction said
retroactive principle must be used to try perpetrators of the
Bali bombing attacks.
"There's no other way but to add the clause to the bill. We
need the retroactive clause for such an extraordinary crime that
we have never before experienced," he told the Post
He, however, added that an extra cause stipulating that the
retroactive principle would be used to try the culprits of the
Bali attacks must also be added in the bill.
Imam Addaruqutni of the Reform faction, however, rejected the
inclusion of retroactive principle in the antiterrorism bill,
saying that no law was ever enacted to try past crimes.
"I think we can try the perpetrators and masterminds of the
Bali blasts using the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedures Code and
international conventions," he said.
Ori Rahman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims
of Violence (Kontras) and Fadjrul Falaakh of the National Law
Commission (KHN) said earlier that all perpetrators of terrorist
activities could be charged under the Criminal Code particularly
articles 187 and 340.
Article 187 of the code stipulates that those who
intentionally cause explosions and fires could face life
imprisonment.
Article 340 states that those who commit premeditated murder
could face the death penalty.