Govt stance on terrorism cautiously welcomed

Govt stance on terrorism cautiously welcomed

Tiarma Siboro and Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's intelligence and military authorities have
cautiously welcomed a government plan to impose either the State
Emergency Law or the State Security Law to deal with terrorism,
even though a rights activist warned of a possible return to a
military-like approach.

The enforcement of the emergency law or the enactment of the
security law may be necessary to combat terrorism because
Indonesia has yet to issue an antiterrorism law, according to
intelligence and military sources. However, they also warned of
public resistance to the plan, given the repressive nature of the
two laws.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Slamet Supriyadi, chairman of the
Indonesian Military/National Police faction at the House of
Representatives, has proposed a middle road by suggesting that
the government, with approval from the House, issue a regulation
to crack down on terrorism.

"It would take a long time before we have an antiterrorism
law, so we suggest the government issue a regulation on how to
deal with terrorism," Supriyadi said on Wednesday.

In fact, Indonesia's need for a legal framework to combat
terrorism is becoming more and more urgent, especially since
intelligence sources hinted on Wednesday that there was enough
evidence to support reports of the presence of al-Qaeda's
terrorist network here.

"Indonesia's geography has enabled al-Qaeda's penetration. The
terrorist network, which was initially based in Afghanistan, has
entered Indonesia's territory and used it as a transit stop or
its hiding place," a military source said.

"Al-Qaeda has operatives in this country and has established a
network with several groups here," the military source told The
Jakarta Post, while refusing to say if there was a connection
between the presence of al-Qaeda members and a series of bomb
blasts that had hit the country within the past few years.

Another intelligence source said that several hard-line groups
here served as al-Qaeda's contacts.

"Our intelligence reports show that almost 90 percent of al-
Qaeda suspects living in this country are of Arabic descent," the
source added.

Earlier on Tuesday, State Minister of Communications and
Information Syamsul Mu'arif said the government would use
existing Law No. 23/1959 on the State of Emergency, pending the
deliberation of an antiterrorism bill at the House of
Representatives.

Syamsul's remark came after he, along with other top Cabinet
ministers and security authorities, held a meeting with President
Megawati Soekarnoputeri at her residence on Jalan Teuku Umar late
Tuesday night to discuss the issues.

Syamsul said that the government was also considering
enforcing the 1999 State Security Law.

The 1999 law was issued during President B.J. Habibie's
tenure, but has never been enforced due to opposition from rights
activists. The 1999 law, according to rights activists, gives too
much power to the president, who can impose a state of emergency
without approval from the House. Critics said the law, proposed
by the government to deal with various conflicts and separatist
movements, goes against the spirit of reform because it also
restricts people's movements and allows the government to ban the
media.

Rights activist Bambang Widjojanto warned on Wednesday of a
possible return to the military's role and an authoritarian
approach in the name of state security.

"The government needs to avoid a military approach in dealing
with such issues because the use of violence to curb violence
only leads to more violence.

"As far as I'm concerned, by definition, terrorism is still
problematic for us. So how can we assume that there are
terrorists here if we do not even know what terrorism is?"
Bambang asked.

Bambang further said that imposing either the State Security
Law or the State Emergency Law would only give the authorities
tremendous power.

He also warned that certain parties could take advantage of
the issue of terrorism for their own benefit, considering that
"there are a lot of vested interests in this issue".

"For instance, do you really believe that Time could uncover
a CIA document? This would only make sense if the CIA had
deliberately handed over the information (to Time).

"Or do you believe that the CIA can monitor and arrest (Omar)
al-Faruq by itself without being spotted? It's not impossible
that the (Indonesian) military had a hand in providing
information on al-Faruq's whereabouts to the CIA.

"So in this regard, everybody has their own interest to
pursue: the CIA, the military or maybe someone else," Bambang
added.

The government's move to crack down on terrorism was spurred
by calls from neighboring countries, including Malaysia and
Singapore.

These countries have openly accused Indonesian Muslim figure
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir of being behind the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) -- a
radical Muslim organization -- an allegation denied by the
Surakarta, Central Java-based cleric.

Indonesia has so far rejected the allegations and is
considered to be reluctant to take tough measures against those
suspected of terrorist acts. Indonesia has repeatedly argued that
it has yet to have a legal umbrella to combat terrorism.

Sources said Ba'asyir, a leader of Indonesian Mujahiddin
Council (MMI), has been named as the next target of an
intelligence operation after Omar al-Faruq.

Al-Faruq, who is said to be a Kuwaiti citizen, was arrested
and handed over to U.S. authorities through an intelligence
operation in cooperation with Indonesian officers and several
foreign countries' intelligence officers.

A military source said that intelligence is monitoring three
Islamic boarding schools in South Sulawesi, West Java and one
belonging to Ba'asyir at Ngruki village in Central Java.

However, the source refused to go into detail, saying: "We
believe that the police are able to handle these cases".