New antiterrorism regulations a strong deterrence: Expert
New antiterrorism regulations a strong deterrence: Expert
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite controversy surrounding their issuance, the two new
government regulations in lieu of any laws on antiterrorism will
live up to their purposes, a criminologist says.
Topo Santoso of the University of Indonesia said on Sunday the
regulations would serve as a powerful means to crack down on
terrorist activities, but the judiciary needed to maintain tight
control of the regulations execution to minimize rights abuses.
Meanwhile, human rights activist Hendardi and legal expert
Rudi Satrio said the regulations would be ineffective in fighting
terrorism as it would be easily used to arbitrarily arrest people
and political enemies, as happened during the tenure of former
president Soeharto.
Topo said various categories of terrorist acts, a broader
power for law enforcers and intelligence to take specific
measures and the inclusion of a retroactive principle were the
crucial points that would make the rulings effective.
"Terrorism is an extraordinary threat, so we need a special
regulation to combat it," he told The Jakarta Post.
But he warned that as long as the country's intelligence
remained weak and the corrupt and politically-influenced
judiciary remained in place, the regulations could be easily
misused by those in power to arrest people or political enemies.
"So we must improve the performance of the intelligence and
establish an independent judiciary. If the conditions are met,
we'll be able to minimize abuses," he said.
According to Topo, the Criminal Code and Criminal Code
Procedure do not classify and label terrorist acts and therefore
give limited powers to law enforcers and intelligence to take
action.
Hendardi said the regulations would clearly lead to the misuse
by the current unprofessional security officers who would carry
out repressive measures against the people.
"The problem of the failure to detect and to disclose
terrorism networks lays with the poor performance of intelligence
and police, not on the lack of a legal basis," he said.
Opposition groups during the tenure of former president
Soeharto were repressed by a range of measures, including terror
and abduction.
Hendardi urged the government to use both the Criminal Code
and Criminal Code Procedures, and create a new, comprehensive
antiterrorism bill that upheld democracy and human rights. He
also suggested the enactment of a law on intelligence to control
intelligence activities.
In his criticism, Rudi said the new regulations only gave the
new label "terrorist", which was not recognized in existing laws.
"I say that we can use the Criminal Code and other laws to
charge terrorists. What we need is to maximize the penalties,
improve the performance of police and intelligence, and establish
an independent judiciary," he said.