Intelligence system to be revamped
JAKARTA (JP): Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono confirmed on Thursday the government's plan to revamp the national intelligence system.
"So far, we have two options. We are also thinking of a possible third option," Susilo told reporters after a limited Cabinet meeting at Bina Graha presidential office here on Thursday, presided over by Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
He said the first alternative was to put the intelligence agency under the defense ministry's supervision, while the second was to set up a special section at the ministry that would be responsible for analyzing all data supplied by the Indonesian Military's Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS).
Earlier on Wednesday, the minister said the State Intelligence Coordinating Board (Bakin) would also be reorganized and renamed the State Intelligence Agency (BIN). He said the move would give BIN greater authority rather than performing merely as a coordinative body.
"The new intelligence system is expected to provide accurate information to the government so that the presidential office can take correct steps and anticipatory actions in facing any problems in the future," he said.
Susilo said revamping the national intelligence system would not raise problems because the matter had been discussed with Bakin, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police Headquarters.
"The most important thing is how to reorganize coordination between Bakin and BAIS and that between Bakin and the presidential office and the vice presidential office," he said.
He denied speculation that Bakin and Bais had been proven ineffective.
"The matter is that the government wants to improve national intelligence capacity," he said.
Earlier, Minister of Defense Mahfud MD said the national intelligence agency would be revamped because it had been found ineffective.
"The government cannot expect too much from Bakin because it only coordinates all intelligence agencies, while BAIS supplies intelligence data for military purposes," he said in a hearing with House of Representatives Commission I for defense, security and foreign affairs here on Wednesday.
The reorganization of the national intelligence system has gained support from the commission on grounds that it is expected to prevent the President receiving only misleading information from his "unreliable private detectives".
Mahfud confirmed that the planned reorganization had gained support from both President Abdurrahman Wahid and Bakin.
"Even State Minister of Administrative Reforms Ryaas Rasyid has given his support and suggested the defense ministry set up a new director general on intelligence affairs, instead of a defense intelligence agency, to make it operational," he said, citing that the final decision would be decided in a meeting of related authorities on Oct. 24.
The minister also requested the House increase the defense budget.
"To get accurate information, the national intelligence agency should ideally be given an unlimited budget," he said.
Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. (ret) Hasnan Habib, former chief of the Indonesian Military's then sociopolitical affairs department, said the government should remain cautious in establishing the new intelligence agency that it would not create trouble in its field operations.
"The new intelligence agency's mission and its authority should be described in detail, whether intelligence analysis is held at the state level, the regional level, or others. The government should not establish the intelligence agency hastily to avoid trouble in its missions," he said here on Thursday.
Hasnan, also former ambassador to the United States, said he disagreed if the new intelligence agency was established to take over Bakin's function.
Political observer Samsu Rizal Panggabean criticized the plan to put the new intelligence body under the defense ministry, saying that the move would be costly and would complicate coordination between the new intelligence body and existing bodies.
Rizal, who is also a researcher at the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, said that instead of forming a new agency, the government should reform the existing intelligence bodies which were used by the Soeharto regime for its political interests.
He said the government should reorganize the existing intelligence bodies, among other things, by assigning civilians to chair the two intelligence bodies.
"In this context, putting intelligence bodies under the Ministry of Defense is the right move. But don't create a new one," he said.
Rizal also suggested a reorientation of the intelligence's tasks.
"Military intelligence should be aimed at gathering information on possible threats from foreign countries, while police intelligence should be aimed at gathering information on criminal matters," he added.
Rizal said that besides intensively reporting their activities to the President, military and police intelligence bodies should regularly report their activities to the House of Representatives (DPR). (44/edt/rms)