Newly-formed security council under fire

Newly-formed security council under fire

JAKARTA (JP): Criticism poured in on the newly-established
Council for the Enforcement of Security and Law, which the
government has insisted would only be temporary in nature.

Some observers said the council was nothing more than
President B.J. Habibie's attempt to consolidate his power.

Bambang Widjojanto from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation
said the council was a display of the government's failure to
learn from past mistakes.

"The government has not learned from past experiences that in
a situation where the public have lost trust in it, the
establishment of any such institutions would not gain popular
support," Bambang said.

Benyamin Mangkoedilaga of the National Commission on Human
Rights (KOMNAS) shared Bambang's view and said that the
establishment of the council seemed to be irrelevant.

"It might indicate the ministers have not carried out their
task properly. If the minister of defense and the others did
their job properly, we would not need such a council," Benyamin
said.

Habibie established the council early last month, but only
announced it on Tuesday. The nonstructural body -- said to be
aimed at accelerating the government's reform programs -- is
chaired by the President himself, but for daily operations he has
appointed Minister of Defense/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto
the chairman of a smaller executive committee, Akbar said.

"The council... is assigned to control and coordinate efforts
to resolve crises threatening national stability," Habibie said
in his decree.

In Malang, East Java, Coordinating Minister for Political
Affairs and Security Gen. (ret) Feisal Tanjung said on Thursday
the council would be temporary in nature.

"The council will keep monitoring security developments and
will feed existing security institutions with input," Feisal, a
member of the council, said.

The council was formed because the existing institutions "had
not been effective enough", he said.

"The council will be dissolved once security has been restored
and existing institutions work effectively," he told journalists
after attending a ceremony officiating retirement of several
high-ranking military officers.

He denied the suggestion that the council was to supplant the
Bakorstanas (Agency for the Coordination of Support for the
Development of National Stability). He did not give details as to
how the council would operate and how it would be different from
Bakorstanas, which has the authority to investigate or even
arrest people.

Commenting on the council, former minister Sarwono
Kusumaatmadja said in the West Java capital of Bandung that
through it, Habibie still had a chance to restore his image.

But he warned: "However, if the council just repeats the
government's current way of handling politics, it won't solve any
problem. It will only create even more problems."

Sarwono said he would wait until the council actually set to
work before giving further comments. "Judging from the document
(Presidential Decree ordering the council's establishment), I
can't say much. It's very superficial," he said.

He hoped the council's members would have the will to hold
dialogue and create stability without violence and uphold justice
without discrimination.

Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the council of University
of Indonesia's Student Representatives, Hadimulya, took a
cautious stance.

"We do not see the possibility that the council will turn out
to be the same as the now-defunct Internal Security Agency
(Kopkamtib) yet," he said. That agency was much feared by many.

"If we look at the composition of the council, which includes
government officials and human rights and religious figures, its
main duty is to maintain undisturbed national stability," he
said.

He, however, added that the students would cautiously wait for
the development of the council's role and function.

"We'll put pressure on and criticize the council's existence
if it later turns out to be the same as Kopkamtib," he said.

Hadimulya also doubted the effectiveness of such a council,
saying that the moral campaign by several noted public figures
was ignored and unheeded by the people as violence was still
found everywhere. (byg/prb/43/44/imn/aan)