House lends support to govt's war on terrorism

Debbie A. Lubis and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Giving a needed boost to the drive to fight terrorism, the House of Representatives (DPR) said on Monday that it supported the government's move to issue government regulations in lieu of a law to track down terrorists.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said in his opening speech at the start of its session on Monday that the House "appreciated" the issuance of the regulations but would also wait for the government to submit the much-anticipated antiterrorism bill.

"Therefore we urge the government to submit the antiterrorism bill as soon as possible so that the House can prioritize it on its agenda and it will have a firm legal base in carrying out its duty," Akbar said.

Nevertheless, he said, the House would discuss the regulations when the government submitted them first to the House.

A week after the Bali blasts on Oct. 12, which killed at least 191 people, the government issued Government Regulation No. 1/2002 on antiterrorism and Government Regulation No. 2/2002 on the implementation of the first regulation.

Based on the fourth amendment of the 1945 Constitution, the House has to give its approval or rejection of the regulations at its next session.

Akbar said the House would support the regulations, but warned that in implementing them, the government should continue to respect human rights, freedom of speech and people's intellectual creativity.

Major factions in the House, including the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar Party, all gave their support to the regulations.

PDI Perjuangan faction chairman Roy B.B. Janis quoted his faction as saying that the regulations were needed to allow the government to take action against suspected terrorists.

However, he warned that the regulations might contain loopholes and warned the government not to abuse them.

"We give our support to the war on terrorism. But we should remember that based on our past experience, this kind of black and white ruling can be utilized to suppress any party who is critical to the government's control mechanism," he told The Jakarta Post.

Despite support from United Development Party (PPP) chairman Hamzah Haz, who is also the Vice President, PPP legislator Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said that the House should reject the regulations because they allowed the government to carry out repressive actions.

He said he would rather wait for the government to submit the antiterrorism bill and deliberate it than approve the defective government regulations.

Also rejecting the regulations were about 100 activists from the Democratic National Student League (LMND), who rallied at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on Monday.

They said the government regulations would terrorize the people, and therefore called on the House to reject them.

Vice President Hamzah Haz, who in the past built a close relationship with leaders of hard-line groups, came to the defense of the regulations on Monday.

He said that by issuing them, the government was actually taking a great risk in taking the blame if their implementation drew public protest.

Therefore, he said the government would prefer to submit the antiterrorism bill and share the burden of its implementation with the House.

"If there is a mistake in the implementation of a regulation, the government alone will be to blame. Whereas if there is a mistake in the implementation of a law, the government and the House will be jointly responsible for that," he added.

Separately, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the antiterrorism bill would be submitted to the House later this week after the drafting team added more clauses and an explanation, which were missed in the two government regulations.

"We invite public input to improve the draft," he told reporters on the sidelines of a launching of a postgraduate program on human rights here.

The government will submit the draft law along with the two government regulations.

Yusril expressed hope that the House would debate the antiterrorism bill as soon as it was submitted, so that it would automatically annul the two government regulations, whose contents many people believe to be full of weaknesses and prone to human rights abuse.