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".