Legislative oversight and the war on terror

Legislative oversight and the war on terror

Bantarto Bandoro, Jakarta

"The proper office of a representative assembly is to watch
and control the government." (John Stuart Mill, 1861)

"Terrorism, like war, is too important to be left to the
generals and the government intelligence agencies." (Paul
Wilkinson, 1977)

These quotations suggest that greater outside scrutiny of the
government's counterterrorism policies, for example, by
legislators, is not only desirable, but urgently necessary.

The current government's counterterrorism policies seem to
reflect the involvement only of intelligence officers, either
from the police, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) or the
military, who happen to be generals or retired generals.

The war on terrorism cannot be executed by the intelligence
services or components of the military alone. The House of
Representatives should also have a part to play. What the House
can do is not only react to unexpected events, but also give
valuable judgments and formulate policy prescriptions.

With regards to the second Bali bombings, House members were
quick to react by calling for the National Intelligence Agency
and the police to appear before the House to provide an
explanation. Is this as far as the legislators can go in such
case? There is actually a lot more to be done by the House.

But they seem to be groping in the dark as to the causes of
terrorism and their plan of actions. We rarely see legislators
here involved, publicly, in heated debates as to what causes
terrorism. With the second Bali bombings, perhaps it is time for
them to go beyond what they think and see as their primary
concerns.

Since the first Bali bombings in 2002, we have enacted a
series of counterterrorism measures and policies, from the
antiterror law and the establishment of antiterror detachments,
to the disbursement of funds provided by donors countries.
Private and formal sectors have praised the government for its
efforts to counter the threat of terrorism. But there has still
been a series of bombings that authorities were unable to
prevent.

Now it is time for the House to develop policies as well as
keep track of all government organizations that deal directly
with the war on terror, particularly the intelligence services.

The House, as an oversight institution, should ensure that the
government, through its security agencies, makes the best use of
its tools in combating terrorism. It should also ensure that
civil rights are not ignored by the need for increased security.

And given the ongoing war on terror and the threat of future
terror attacks, it is clear that more policy attention on the
part of the House, as well as the executive branch, is not only
desirable, but urgent.

It is within this context that close supervision by the House
is imperative to ensure the security agencies, in particular the
intelligence services, the police and the military, use their
power effectively and in a way that does not unduly compromise
the civil liberties of the people.

The need for outside supervision of the government's
counterterrorism policies is more urgent than ever because of the
continued and perceived weaknesses in coordinating the different
policies.

It is not clear whether House Commission I for security,
defense and foreign relations has exercised any supervisory role
over the government's counterterrorism policies.

Politicians, as many here have acknowledged, sometimes spend
too much time looking after their parochial interests. Since the
first Bali bombings, we have rarely seen politicians get involved
in the heated public debate over terrorism, or come up with their
own concept of the war on terror, or keep a close watch over the
complex security sector.

The question one might ask is whether our legislators are
mindful of their power over the government's conduct of the war
on terror, or if they are simply not prepared to better acquaint
themselves with this complex issues?

The writer is the director of scientific infrastructure and
publications, and the chief editor of The Indonesian Quarterly,
at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, in
Jakarta. He is also a lecturer in the International Relations
Graduate Program at the School of Social and Political Sciences,
the University of Indonesia. He can be reached at
bandoro@csis.or.id.