PAN and PKB reject state security bill

PAN and PKB reject state security bill

JAKARTA (JP): Opposition to the state security bill continued
on Thursday, with the National Mandate Party (PAN) and National
Awakening Party (PKB) demanding the House of Representatives drop
the government-sponsored draft law.

PKB secretary-general Muhaimin Iskandar said his party would
reject the bill because the current House did not have the
legitimacy to deliberate its terms.

"If the House heeds the people's aspirations and increasing
protests, it should stop the deliberation of the bill and leave
the job to the next House instead," he said in a seminar on the
bill held by the Mass Communications Forum.

Separately, PAN secretary-general Faisal Basri said his party
was opposed to the bill because it feared that it would be
misused by the government during the General Session of the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in November.

"Regardless of all significant changes made into the bill, we
are worried that the bill will only justify the government in
preventing the people from holding demonstrations and protests
before and during the MPR General Session," he told the House
committee in charge of deliberating the bill on Thursday.

He said student and mass demonstrations were expected to color
the Session because of anger over President B.J. Habibie's
handling of East Timor and the failure to resolve allegations of
corruption against his predecessor, Soeharto.

Habibie will deliver his accountability speech before the MPR
in the Session, scheduled to take place between Nov. 1 and Nov.
10.

Another speaker in the seminar, Faisal Razi from the
Democratic People's Party (PRD), called on all political parties
and mass organizations to reject the bill, which gives authority
to the military to use force and take wide-ranging measures in a
state of emergency.

"PRD is against the bill because it gives new authority to the
military, which has lost the people's confidence because of its
tarnished past image," he said.

PAN and PRD also urged the House to annul the restrictive 1959
law concerning a state of emergency, which is now in effect in
East Timor.

Agus Muhyidin, the House committee chairman who also spoke in
the seminar, said it would depend on the House as a whole whether
to halt deliberation of the bill.

The House is expected to endorse the draft law on Sept. 23.

Spokesman for the Indonesian Military (TNI) Maj. Gen. Sudrajat
appealed to all quarters opposed to the bill to recognize TNI's
"goodwill" in accepting amendments.

"TNI has been open to gradual reform to repair its image. Many
substantial changes have been made in the bill and the military
agrees with the changes in order to accommodate the people's
demands," he said in the seminar.

Syamsuddin, a member of the National Commission of Human
Rights and a retired Army general, hailed the changes made by
legislators, saying the present version was far more democratic
than the original draft

"All sides opposing the bill should reconsider their rejection
of the bill," he said, citing the bill guarantee of law
supremacy, human rights and democracy in a state of emergency.

Student rallies protesting the bill continued in Surabaya and
Yogyakarta on Thursday.

In Surabaya, hundreds of students took to the streets in
separate demonstrations. A student group identified as the Arek
Surabaya Association protested outside the local council to
demand counselors reject the bill.

Another 400 students claiming to represent the Communication
Forum of Surabaya Students (Formasa) held a free-speech forum in
front of the provincial legislative body on Jl. Indrapura. They
said the bill would pave the way for the military to strengthen
its grip on power.

In Yogyakarta, more than 200 students representing the
Indonesian Front for Youth Struggle (FPPI) marched through the
town. The march caused traffic congestion on major streets.

The students also burned tire stashes and carried a coffin
covered by a red cloth contained with signatures of students who
rejected the bill. (23/nur/rms)