Bill gives BIN 'excessive powers'

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The draft bill on intelligence provides the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) with excessive powers, say rights campaigners, and will put civil liberties in peril.

Article 1 of the bill states that the BIN has the authority to arrest those suspected of conducting any activities that could threaten national security -- a power that will turn Indonesia into a police state, according to three prominent rights groups.

"This is very dangerous, as such an authority is possessed by the judiciary," Munarman of the Foundation of Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) said on Sunday.

YLBHI, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) said in a joint statement that the bill was rife with articles that could infringe upon basic human rights and contradicted the due process of law.

Munarman said a power to arrest an individual upon suspicion could diminish the professionalism of intelligence officers, as they could resort to the method before all other measures had been exhausted.

"The intelligence agency should collect information discreetly, without the knowledge of those who are targeted, and this requires officers' professionalism. The article on arrest would prompt officers to detain suspects to collect information," he said.

The bill also grants the BIN chief a powerful role relative to heads of intelligence units in other government institutions: Article 27 states that the appointment of heads of other intelligence units, such as those at the Attorney General's Office and the National Police, must be approved by the BIN chief.

The BIN chief can also recommend a candidate for the House of Representatives' commission overseeing intelligence affairs.

Another cause for concern in the draft bill is a stipulation that BIN can run its own business activities to raise funds aside from their state budget allocation to cover operational costs.

Further, Article 23 of the draft bill allows BIN to purchase firearms directly from producers as part of its business activities.

Usman Hamid of Kontras said such a privilege could spur an illicit firearms trade in the country.

Riding on the coattails of the United States-led war on terror, BIN began drafting the bill on intelligence in 2002, formulated exclusively by intelligence agency officials.

The government has not submitted the draft to the House for deliberation as of yet.

"BIN cannot be left to itself in formulating the draft bill, as it will surely draw up regulations that will give the agency the maximum benefit," Usman said.

He said the coordinating minister for security and political affairs must immediately take over the drafting of the bill and make it more accountable to the public.

Despite their criticisms, the rights watchdogs said the country needed a law on intelligence more than it did in the past, especially to deal with future terrorist attacks.

"Successive terrorist attacks in the country have indicated that our intelligence did not perform well and had not heard the wake-up call. A law on intelligence should boost its professionalism," Usman said.