Govt may revise terror law

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Amid criticism of poor coordination among security agencies and their failure to prevent the latest bombing in Jakarta, the government is considering revising the 2003 antiterrorism law to give the security agencies more powers to thwart further terrorist attacks.

This is one of three different options that the government is pondering in order to curb terrorism, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said here on Wednesday.

"The second option is that the government will improve the implementation of the law, while the third one is the adoption of an internal security law," he told a news conference.

However, the first option -- the revision of Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism -- would be the preferred option for the government as the Indonesian security authorities still lacked the powers needed to tackle terrorist threats, Susilo added.

"Having enacted this law, we now believe that the powers of the security authorities to prevent terrorist attacks are inadequate. Our security agencies need more legal powers than they have been given by the current law so as to allow them to carry out early detection of terrorist threats," he said.

However, analysts and legislators here said that based on the prevailing antiterrorism law, the security authorities and intelligence agencies should have been able to prevent the Aug. 5 bombing of the Marriott Hotel if they had managed to institute good coordination with one another.

What they needed was not new legislation or a review of the existing law, but rather coordination, the critics insisted.

Susilo said that what concerned the government most was Article 26 of the antiterrorism law, which states that the security forces cannot arrest terror suspects immediately unless they produce prima facie evidence. Nor are they allowed to detain suspects for more than three days without the approval of the district court.

This hampered the government's efforts to take preemptive measures, and impeded the security forces in establishing an early warning system, he added.

However, Susilo would not spell out the details of the revisions he wanted to see, saying only that he would chair a meeting on Thursday with other relevant ministers and senior officials to discuss the planned revisions and the other two available options.

"We are expecting that the revision of the law will bring about effective measures to fight terrorism," he said.

Susilo said the government was unlikely to enact a Singapore- or Malaysia-style internal security law to replace the current antiterrorism law, arguing that it this would only stir up strong opposition around the country.

"We will not adopt an internal security act (ISA) like Singapore's or Malaysia's. Our situation is different from that of Singapore or Malaysia. The ISA does not provide guarantees for political freedom," he said.

With their ISAs, the Singaporean and Malaysian authorities can arrest persons suspected of threatening stability at any time. They are allowed to detain suspects for up to two years even in the absence of prima facie evidence.

However, this leaves the way open for abuses of power, such as the arresting of opposition leaders and prodemocracy activists. Indonesia previously had an antisubversion law that was similar to the ISAs. But, this law was repealed in 1999 after the fall of authoritarian president Soeharto.

Susilo said that compared with the ISAs, the antiterrorism law was very accommodative and guaranteed political freedom. It only targeted terror suspects, not politicians, he added.

He promised that the revision of the law would not reintroduce the antisubversion law by the backdoor, or lead to the adoption of ISA-style provisions. If it were to do so, it could lead to wrongful arrests, he said.

"The revisions will continue to guarantee political freedom. Human rights activists will be free to oversee its implementation."

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra echoed Susilo's comments, saying the antiterrorism law was basically adequate although it still needed some revisions.

"The problem merely concerns technical issues, namely, we don't have the necessary technology and capabilities to conduct intensive surveillance operations to detect and capture terror suspects," he said.

Human rights and prodemocracy activists have strongly opposed the introduction of an ISA-style law as proposed by Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil, saying it could kill democracy in the country.

Former justice minister Muladi said the adoption of an ISA- style law could stifle the democratization process and violate human rights' principles. "Adopting an ISA would mean reviving the notorious antisubversion law. That is not democratic," he said.