Govt, legislators differ on draconian law

Kurniawan Hari and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following last week's Marriott bombing, the government is mulling the adoption of a draconian law to preempt terrorist strikes, but House of Representatives' leaders appear to be having none of it.

At the beginning, the public and the media paid little attention when Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil floated the idea last week of adopting a draconian Singapore or Malaysian-style Internal Security Act (ISA).

But on Monday, Matori was joined by Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, who all lent support to the controversial proposal.

Interestingly, they both voiced their open support after a meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri, saying that the existing antiterrorist law was not strong enough to stop a terrorist attack from happening.

"The law says that judges can use intelligence reports to legalize the arrest of a suspect. But that is not enough. We are in a very weak position when it comes to stopping things from happening," Susilo said.

The top security minister said that he would discuss overall antiterrorism measures, including the proposal for the adoption of an ISA-like law, during a meeting at his office this Thursday.

Endriartono supported the possible adoption of an ISA-like law, saying that it would accommodate the needs of the country in taking preemptive measures against possible terrorist attacks.

The proposal was floated following last week's terror attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which killed 11 people and injured 148 others. The attack occurred less than one year after major blasts in Bali killed more than 200 people.

The government's proposal, however, has sparked protests from rights activists as well as a number of House leaders and legislators.

Their concerns especially center on the fact that the ISA in Singapore and Malaysia gives too much power to security officials, including the power to detain anyone suspected of planning a terror attack for two years without trial.

Indonesia used to have a similar draconian law, the subversion law, which was scrapped in 1999 following the downfall of the authoritarian regime of Soeharto.

Soeharto used the subversion law to silence hundreds of his political opponents by sending them to prison without trial.

Rights activists like Hendardi and Munir slammed the current government's desire to adopt another draconian law, saying that the move was aimed at deflecting attention from the government's inability to counter terror attacks.

They both expressed concerns that the adoption of such a draconian law would lead to excessive human rights violations.

They suggested that instead of adopting a draconian law, the government should improve the work of its intelligence agencies and use the existing laws, including the Criminal Code, to preempt terror attacks.

House of Representatives' Speaker Akbar Tandjung and chairman of the House defense and security commission, Ibrahim Ambong, joined the chorus rejecting the government's proposal.

They contended that the adoption of an ISA-like law would only bring the country back to the dark days of authoritarianism.

"The idea of adopting an ISA would first need a comprehensive assessment because it will spark protests," Akbar told the press after a meeting at his office here.

He added that the existing antiterrorism law was more than enough for the security forces to combat terrorism.

Ambong agreed and said that instead of drafting a new law, the country should evaluate the implementation of the antiterrorism law, Law No. 15/2000, by the police.

Both Akbar and Ambong are from the Golkar Party, the second largest in the House after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which is led by President Megawati.

Some legislators from the PDI Perjuangan have, however, apparently given support to the government's controversial proposal. Legislator RK Sembiring Meliala is one of them. He said the country needed a new, tougher law to preempt terror attacks.

"I think the new law must give officials the power to launch preemptive measures," Sembiring told The Jakarta Post.