House divided over antiterrorism rules

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri will likely face a tough challenge in securing support to go on with her war against terrorism as influential factions in the House of Representatives (DPR) are divided over the antiterrorism regulations and the bill.

The United Development Party (PPP) and Reform factions said on Friday that they would reject the two government regulations in lieu of a law on terrorism and the investigation into the Bali terrorist attacks on Oct. 12 for fear of political abuse.

Meanwhile, Golkar, the second biggest faction in the House with 120 members, chose to delay revealing its position until Monday when all factions are expected to read their final stance on the government's antiterrorism drive.

That left Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Indonesian Military/Police as the only factions that strongly support the government's policies in fighting terrorism.

The National Awakening Party had earlier expressed its support for the two regulations.

In the wake of the deadly Bali terrorist attacks, the government issued two antiterrorism regulations and planned to submit the country's first ever antiterrorism bill to the House for deliberation next week.

Akil Mochtar of Golkar personally rejected the regulations on Thursday before a meeting between House Commission II for home affairs and legal affairs and ministers under the Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"The regulations give elbowroom for human rights abuses and create panic in society with the possible return of repressive approaches to upholding the law," Akil told The Jakarta Post.

Chairul Umam Lubis of PPP, which is headed by Vice President Hamzah Haz, said his faction deemed the regulations as part of the U.S.-led battle against terrorist groups.

"We have examined the regulations and decided to refuse them on the basis that their contents are unacceptable. We also found that the regulations were likely engineered and are only the products of our dependence on the United States," Chairul told reporters after the faction met with the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI).

Chairul said the Criminal Code was enough to ensnare possible suspects of terror acts.

Akil pointed out that the regulations were not comprehensively describing the main target of the war against terrorism.

The regulations, said Akil, tended to justify the prevailing opinion that there were local terrorist networks operating in the country instead.

"Indonesians overseas may live in fear for being named terrorist suspects although it has yet to be made clear which organizations they represent," said Akil, referring to the raids on homes belonging to Indonesian citizens in Australia.

Akil, however, did not reveal the particular points in the regulations that he rejected.

Chairman of the TNI/Police faction Slamet Supriyadi expressed shock over the draconian stigma given to the regulations.

"Why are people afraid of the regulations more than they are of terrorism?" he asked.

He underlined that the regulations were much better than similar acts imposed in other countries because they provided legal and human rights protection for terrorist suspects, witnesses and any members of the public who become victims.

Not much difference can be found between the two regulations and the antiterrorism bill, he added, "so we don't have to take too much time in the bill's deliberation".

Law expert Hamid Awaluddin of South Sulawesi's Hassanuddin University, who was a member of the team drafting the antiterrorism bill, told the Post on Friday that the government had scrapped the phrase "political motives" from the description of terror acts to avoid the possibility of repression by the government against political opponents.