Government prepares a new emergency law

Government prepares a new emergency law

JAKARTA (JP): The government is preparing a new emergency law,
replacing a previous law drafted during the rule of former
president B.J. Habibie which has not been enforced due to strong
public opposition, a minister said on Thursday.

"The new emergency law is basically a response to widespread
criticism that the 1999 law on security is militaristic and prone
to human rights violations," Justice and Human Rights Minister
Yusril Ihza Mahendra told a media conference after a Cabinet
meeting.

"We have eliminated those aspects so that the new law will be
far more accommodative and aware of human rights values," Yusril
said.

The law was enacted by the House of Representatives (DPR) in
September 1999, but was soon after postponed indefinitely by then
president Habibie following violent street protests by students.

At least five people were killed in the protests, the majority
of victims being shot by security forces.

A draft for the new law has been prepared by the government
and will soon be proposed to the House for deliberation, Yusril
said.

"The Cabinet meeting today has instructed several cabinet
ministers to meet with House leaders to discuss the new emergency
law," Yusril said, but did not elaborate.

The minister said a number of senior human rights activists
were also involved in drafting the new emergency law bill,
including Munir, who founded the Commission for Missing Persons
and Victims of Violence (Kontras), and lawyer Abdul Hakim Garuda
Nusantara.

Minister of Defense Mahfud M.D., who was also present on
Thursday, said that constitutional law experts Harun Alrasid,
Ismail Sunny and Arifin Suryaatmadja were also involved in
preparing the bill.

"The government has decided that it will lobby the DPR to
'forget' the (1999) law on security and deliberate a new
emergency bill," Mahfud said.

Yusril has previously said that enforcing the 1999 law on
security now would put the government "in a difficult situation"
as the consequence of such a move would be "to revoke a state of
civil emergency" in Maluku.

The civil emergency in Maluku, which was imposed by the
government in June last year, is based on the 1959 law on
security.

Yusril said the civil emergency status in Maluku will have "no
legal grounds" if the 1999 law on security, which was precisely
aimed at replacing the 1959 law on security, is enforced.

The government has imposed a state of civil emergency in
Maluku and North Maluku to end months of sectarian clashes which
have killed thousands of people since the violence first erupted
in January 1999.

Meanwhile, the House and the government has included the bill
on emergency law on the list of 108 draft laws prioritized for
deliberation during the 2001 fiscal year.

"The bill needs review in accordance with the reform era and
in order to appease suspicion among opposition groups," Yusril
said in a hearing with the House's Commission II on home and
legal affairs later on Thursday night.

Yusril also welcomed the commission's proposal for the
establishment of a special court to try corruption cases, but
suggested that it be a division of the existing district court.

He said many alleged corrupt figures who had been taken to
court were later acquitted of charges because the evidence lodged
by prosecutors was very weak, not because the judges had abused
their power.

He cited the Soeharto case as an example, explaining that the
former president could not be tried because the prosecution
presented a very weak case against him.

Earlier, Commission II chairman Amien Aryoso, who presided
over the hearing, called on the government to set up a special
court to try corruption cases in response to public
dissatisfaction with recent corruption trials.

"The establishment of such a special court is expected to
effectively send corrupt people to prison," he said.

He said many people were dissatisfied with recent trials of
corruption cases, as most of the defendants had been acquitted of
all charges. (byg/rms)