Govt opts for 'humane' spy bill
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The defense ministry is preparing a revision of the draft bill on intelligence, as the initial draft was criticized for being detrimental to human rights protection in the country.
Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said he was in consultation with members of public, including scholars, to produce a brand new draft, which he said would be "more humane" than the old one proposed during the previous administration.
"Between 2000 and 2003, the public was very responsive to the government's move to formulate a bill on intelligence. Rights activists stood against it because the bill granted greater powers to intelligence officers while carrying out their jobs," Juwono said after a closed-door meeting with a group of scholars.
He was referring to the state intelligence bill, which the government has dropped due to mounting opposition from a variety of critical groups. Juwono said the old bill was prone to civil rights abuses.
Should the House of Representatives endorse the old bill, it would give the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) to power to intervene in the work of the police and allow for the use of intelligence reports as prima facie evidence, which would thus be admissible in a court of law.
"I must emphasize that such a bill neither came from this office nor the BIN office. I don't know who proposed it," Juwono asserted.
"My policy now is to invite officials and experts from related institutions, including BIN, to formulate together a new draft, which represents democratic circumstances and respects human rights."
The scholars proposed to Juwono on Thursday a draft that clearly stipulates a chain of responsibility to prevent superiors from abusing their power or evading justice. Even the president can be questioned in connection with an intelligence operation, according to the draft.
"We need intelligence services. However, they should not negatively impact on the public, at large. Furthermore, the government must provide a clear mechanism of punishment instead of granting impunity to intelligence officers," one of the scholars, Eddy Prasetyono of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said.
The bill demands the establishment of a new agency tasked with monitoring and coordinating intelligence activities and reporting any progress of the activities to the president.
Called the Coordinating Institute of National Intelligence (LKIN), the new body supervises all the country's intelligence authorities ranging from the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) to intelligence units attached to certain ministries.
The scholars suggested that the agency be led by a civilian.
Other experts attending the meeting with Juwono were criminologist Adrianus Meliala and military analysts Ikrar Nusa Bhakti of the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), Kusnanto Anggoro and Andi Widjajanto, both from CSIS.
They have recently formed the Center for Global and Civil Society Studies (Pacivis).
Their draft provides a mechanism of control over all intelligence activities, which enables intelligence officers to ask for a clarification directly from their superiors "if they consider their duties vulnerable to human rights violations or abuses of power."
It also emphasizes that any intelligence activity conform with the state's policies, which thus gives the executive branch the right to access and monitor the activities.
Participation by the legislature is part of the mechanism of control, especially for budget approval on intelligence operations and the establishment of a monitoring commission.