House divided over antiterrorism rules

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.