Indonesia needs internal security act: Military

Indonesia needs internal security act: Military

JAKARTA (JP): The military is drafting an internal security
act in anticipation of escalating disturbances to national
stability in the future.

Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, chief of the Armed Forces (ABRI)
sociopolitical affairs department, said that the drafting of the
bill began 10 years ago.

"We hope we can submit the bill to the House of
Representatives in the very near future for deliberation,"
Syarwan said in a meeting with chief editors of the local mass
media at the Ministry of Information.

The bill, Syarwan said, was needed because as Indonesia enters
the globalization era and the demand for greater democracy
increases, disturbances to national security are expected to
escalate.

Syarwan declined to comment when asked if the future security
act was meant as a replacement for the controversial subversion
law. He only replied that the subversion law was still in force.

Critics say the subversion law is outdated and is against the
spirit of democratization that Indonesia is vigorously pursuing.

Carrying a maximum penalty of death, it allows the authorities
to detain a suspect up to one year without trial. This year, the
National Commission on Human Rights suggested that the law be
scrapped because it encouraged violations of human rights.

Syarwan said the internal security act was drafted out of
concern that Indonesia no longer had an effective legal base to
deal with major crises that endangered the nation's unity.

Some 20 years ago, he said, Indonesia had the powerful
Kopkamtib, the command for restoration of security and order.
Earlier, it also had the Extraordinary Military Tribunal, which
dealt with the clampdown on activists of the Indonesian Communist
Party within the army.

"At that time, all security problems could be handled fast and
effectively," he said.

Syarwan said all Indonesia has at present is the Agency for
the Coordination of Support for the Development of National
Stability, which, unlike its predecessor Kopkamtib, does not have
command authority.

Indonesia badly needs a powerful internal security act to
control the increasing demand for greater political freedom from
its educated citizens.

Indonesia's closest neighbors, Malaysia and Singapore, already
have their own internal security acts.

Syarwan's disclosure of the internal security act bill came
less than two months after the capital witnessed major
politically motivated riots.

The riots were triggered by the violent takeover of the
Indonesian Democratic Party headquarters by supporters of a
government-backed rebel faction on July 27.

The government has accused the little-known tiny Democratic
People's Party for inciting the riot that claimed five lives,
according to the National Commission on Human Rights. (pan)