Muslim organizations back antiterrorism regulations

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.