Government to submit new bill on terrorism

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government plans to submit a new bill as part of an addition to the set of antiterrorism bills, one of which was endorsed by the House of Representatives last week, to reduce to a minimum the authority of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) in dealing with terrorism.

Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said after a meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri at the latter's office that the newly endorsed bill had several things that needed to be fine tuned to avoid misinterpretations in its implementation.

"For example, Article 26 of the bill which says intelligence reports could be used as evidence in terrorist cases could be interpreted wrongfully, so we want to prevent BIN from abusing the ruling," he said.

The bill's article allows the use of intelligence reports as prima facie evidence and would thus be submissible in a court of law.

The House of Representatives endorsed the temporary government regulation in lieu of a law (Perpu) No. 1/2002 last week, while at the same time a special committee of the House was still reading the government-sponsored antiterrorism bill which was put forth to replace the perpu on a permanent basis.

The Perpu, although constitutionally legal, is nevertheless uncommon, because usually the House only needs to approve the regulation, which was issued in a time of emergency.

The Perpu was issued by President Megawati Soekarnoputri just a week after the Oct. 12 Bali terror attack, as the country had no laws which dealt with terrorism.

The government's move is considered by many observers as a waste of time and inefficient because the House will now have to spend even more time deliberating the latest bill, which was scheduled to be submitted within one month after the endorsement of the Perpu.

Yusril said that the government had never requested that the House deliberate on the Perpu in the first place, they are normally meant to simply endorse it.

"The government has never asked the House to deliberate the Perpu anyway as it is temporary. We are asking for a fast deliberation of the antiterrorism bills so we can have permanent laws," the minister said.

"However, the House said that they did not have enough time, so the President will send an official letter, asking the House to stop deliberating the antiterrorism bill which was submitted two months ago," said Yusril.

He added that aside from Article 26, the new draft law will regulate that witnesses' testimony through teleconference facility will be accepted as legitimate.

"Currently such practices only happen in a court, but with the draft law, it could be done during the investigation," Yusril said.

This is not the first time Yusril blocked BIN from acquiring greater authority in dealing with terrorism acts, as he also refused it during the deliberation of the Perpu with the House.

Certain groups have argued that greater authority by BIN, led by Hendropriyono, would be a serious threat to Muslims and Yusril, part of a Muslim-based party, has always tried to reduce that possibility.