Muslim organizations back antiterrorism regulations
Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The country's two largest Muslim organizations have thrown their weight behind the new antiterrorism regulations, but have also urged the nation to be watchful to prevent the rules from being abused.
The support of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah could help dampen any backlash from radical groups who suspect the regulations are directed against them.
"We badly need such regulations to prevent terror attacks. All countries have similar laws," Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the 40- million strong NU, told The Jakarta Post Sunday.
"Without the rulings we will not be able to prevent terrorism. (The Criminal Code) cannot fight terrorism because it allows arrests on the basis of hard evidence. It means action can be taken only after an incident."
Ahmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of the 30-million member Muhammadiyah, also endorsed the regulations, saying that security authorities needed the laws to fight terrorism.
"Police need a legal umbrella to combat terrorism, otherwise they will be powerless," he told the Post separately Sunday.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri signed two unprecedented regulations on antiterrorism Friday night, one of which serves as the general guidelines for combating terrorism, while the other was specifically drawn up to deal with the Bali bomb attacks which killed almost 200 people, mostly foreign tourists, on Oct. 12.
The rulings allow National Police to arrest people suspected of terrorist activities based on intelligence data or a lower threshold of evidence than that required in other cases, and to detain individuals for lengthy periods for questioning without a charge being brought.
Law enforcers have complained about the absence of a legal framework to act on foreign intelligence reports alleging that some Indonesian citizens were linked to international and regional terrorist networks.
Both Hasyim and Syafii dismissed growing concerns among hard- line groups that the regulations would be used to prosecute them for their alleged links to international terrorist networks.
"It's baseless. If those so-called radicals do not do anything against the law, they should not worry," Syafii said.
The two respected Muslim leaders also vowed that NU and Muhammadiyah would "resist" any move by the authorities to abuse the regulations as legal instruments to arrest their political opponents.
"If there are violations (of the rulings), we will correct them," Hasyim said.
"The House of Representatives, the press, and non-governmental groups as well as other community members must speak out and make sure that the rules are not misused," Syafii said.
"And we ask the authorities to use the regulations properly and wisely. They have to avoid arrests based on subjective evidence," he added.
Asked whether security authorities needed to arrest leaders of radical groups often blamed for provoking violence and taking the law into their own hands, Syafii said: "As long as they have disrupted security and order by committing destruction, harsh legal action is a must against them".
Syafii said he supported the police for arresting Habib Rizieq Shihab, leader of the Islam Defenders' Front (FPI), over violent raids by his followers on several nightspots in Jakarta recently.
"What the FPI did was just too much. They have no right to do so," Syafii said, saying nobody but security personnel was allowed to enforce the law against vice, including gambling and prostitution.
Hasyim concurred with Syafii, saying that any individuals, be they Muslims, Christians or people from other religious groups, had to face justice if they used violence, even if they claim their actions were in the name of religion.
The vast majority of Indonesian Muslims are moderate but some are sympathetic to the view that the U.S.-led war on terrorism is being used as an excuse to attack Islam in general.
They have expressed their opposition to the two regulations, claiming they would give the authorities more weapons to attack Islam.
They cited last Saturday's arrest of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, whom foreign intelligence agencies have tied to Osama bin Laden's international terrorist network al-Qaeda and a regional network of militants in Southeast Asia.
Ba'asyir, who is the leader of the Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, Surakarta, Central Java, has repeatedly denied the accusations, saying they were slander.
His students and followers have vowed to carry out suicide attacks if Ba'asyir, also chairman of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), was arrested.
The police arrested Ba'asyir, who is currently being treated at a hospital in Surakarta, last Saturday and put him under police detention on Sunday.