NGO activists reject antiterrorism bills
NGO activists reject antiterrorism bills
A'an Suryana and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) expressed opposition on
Monday to antiterrorism bills soon to be submitted to the House
of Representatives for deliberation, saying the draconian bills
threatened both democracy and human rights.
The NGOs insisted that existing laws were sufficient to
support the country's war against terrorism, provided that
appropriate amendments were made to the regulations.
Meanwhile, the House repeated on Monday its call for the
government to submit the antiterrorism bills for deliberation.
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung and his deputy, Soetardjo
Soerjogoeritno, urged the government to submit the bills as soon
as possible.
"We are asking the government to submit the bills soon so that
the government regulations in lieu of antiterrorism laws will not
be in effect for too long," Akbar said.
The government plans to submit to the House for deliberation a
bill on antiterrorism and another on the implementation of an
antiterrorism bill dealing with the Bali bombings.
The contents of the bills are similar to the two antiterrorism
regulations issued earlier by the government. The regulations
have been widely criticized by rights activists.
According to Akbar, the submission of the antiterrorism bills
to the House would help reduce the controversy surrounding the
issuance of the two regulations.
"We can change some of the articles in the bills considered to
be contentious," Akbar said.
Soetardjo said the issuance of the government regulations was
aimed at bypassing the usually long process of deliberating bills
in the House; a process made longer when the government fails to
deliver bills to the House in a timely manner.
"Until today we have not received the antiterrorism bills
(from the government)," he said.
According to rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis, terrorism is
adequately covered by existing regulations, including the Law on
Explosives, the Law on Money Laundering, the Criminal Code
Procedures and the Law on Banking Secrecy.
Todung urged the public to increase the pressure on the House
to prevent the bills from being passed into law.
He said this effort must include pressure on House members to
amend existing laws and regulations rather than drafting new
antiterrorism bills.
"Public consultation should now be promoted and expanded to
point out the details of the amendments, including which new
clauses need to be attached to existing regulations," Todung said
during a discussion on Monday organized by human rights watch
Imparsial.
If the bills are passed into law, which carry even more weight
than regulations, it could aggravate the situation in the
country, said Todung.
"State terrorism might eventually occur if the bills are
passed into law," he warned.
Munir, an executive of the Committee for Missing Persons and
Victims of Violence, agreed, saying that both the antiterrorism
bills and the regulations would undermine the country's fledgling
democracy and human rights.
The regulations, in particular, give security forces wide-
ranging powers, including the power to arrest any one suspected
of links to terrorist networks.
These powers could threaten the country's fragile democracy
because they are open to abuse, Munir said.
According to Munir, the regulations are dangerous because they
unfairly link particular ethnic groups and religions with
terrorism.
He did not go into detail, but the recent arrests of several
Muslim hard-liners has caused a public uproar.
"It is feared this stereotyping could lead to wrongful
arrests, violating human rights," Munir said.