Crackdown on terrorism threatens SE Asia democracy
Crackdown on terrorism threatens SE Asia democracy
Karl Malakunas, Agence France-Presse, Singapore
Moves by Southeast Asian governments to enact authoritarian laws to fight terrorism will reverse many hard-won democratic gains and could backfire, civil rights campaigners said on Tuesday.
Human rights advocates and security analysts expressed concern that the push to introduce hardline security laws could lead to a repeat of abuses that occurred under many of the undemocratic regimes that have ruled in the region.
"A lot of abuses occurred in the past in the name of fighting communism," Sinapan Samydorai, president of the Think Center, one of Singapore's few civil rights group, told AFP.
"Now there are fears of the same again, this time under the name of (fighting) terrorism."
Last week's car bomb blast on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta has sparked a debate among many in Indonesia and elsewhere in the region about the trade-off between civil liberties and the fight against terrorism.
Indonesia's military chief, Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, called on Monday for security laws based on those in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia that allow for the indefinite detention of suspects deemed a threat to national security.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra also announced tough new security laws on Monday, which he enacted without the approval of parliament.
In the Philippines, President Gloria Arroyo is continuing her struggle to win approval for antiterrorism laws based on the controversial Patriot Act that was introduced in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Samydorai and other civil rights campaigners said the moves threatened democratic gains won through decades of struggle against the likes of Soeharto in Indonesia, Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and the military juntas that plagued Thailand in the 1970s and 80s.
"A lot of people may feel an authoritarian hand may be a better choice than a new flourishing democracy," the executive director of Malaysian human rights group Suaram, Cynthia Gabriel, told AFP.
"This goes against the grain of what we are trying to say that in addressing any kind of terrorist network, what's really needed is a respect for different ethnic groups and genuine democracy."
Suaram is one of the many critics of Malaysia's Internal Security Act, under which more than 70 suspected Islamic militants are being detained without trial.
Security analyst Andrew Tan, from the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said many people in Indonesia would still oppose the introduction of a Malaysian-style ISA despite last week's bombing in Jakarta.
"The problem for Indonesia is it's going to be very difficult to introduce similar legislation because of the past abuses of the Suharto government," Tan said.
"The politics in Indonesia is very diverse and fractured... I don't think you would get a consensus."
Tan said regional governments had to understand the effects tougher security measures could have, warning abuse of such laws would fuel the resentment that has driven some disaffected Muslims towards violence and extremism.
"Governments have to be very careful that their actions are seen to be legitimate otherwise it will contribute to a worsening of the situation given they don't want to alienate the Muslim ground," he said.
In the Philippines, leftwing Senator Satur Ocampo, whose Bayan Muna party has campaigned to water down Arroyo's planned anti- terrorism legislation, also warned draconian measures could backfire.
"The social, political and economic issues underlying the activities of these organizations have been around for a long time and can't be erased by reducing everything to acts of terrorism," Ocampo said.
He called on governments to spend more energy focusing on the root causes of terrorism rather than enact tougher security measures, saying laws were in most cases already adequate.
"Most of the acts are already designated as crimes under specific laws, such as murder," he said.
But amid the growing climate of fear, Ocampo conceded Indonesia and other governments may increasingly be persuaded that tough pre-emptive action is needed.
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