Police lashed out over their failure in terror attacks
Police lashed out over their failure in terror attacks
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A criminologist has lashed out at the National Police for
failing to take preemptive action against possible terror attacks
in the country despite the presence of a legal umbrella to do so.
"The police have strong legal backing to enable them to
prevent terrorist attacks from occurring based on intelligence
reports. But they have failed to use (that mechanism)," Adrianus
Meliala, an expert in criminology, said.
Adrianus, who is also an adviser to the National Police chief,
referred to a recent series of bomb attacks in the country,
namely in North Sumatra's capital, near the U.N. mission and at
Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta.
The blasts took place after the government had enacted
regulations to eradicate terror attacks.
When high-explosive bombs ripped through two nightclubs in
Bali last year, the country's security authorities quickly blamed
the absence of a legal framework that could enable them to take
preemptive measures against terror acts.
Law enforcers argued that they needed a legal umbrella to act
on intelligence reports that linked someone to international or
regional terror networks.
Even after the Bali bombing, which killed 202 people,
Indonesia needed international pressure to enforce two
regulations on antiterrorism.
The House of Representatives approved the regulations last
month.
Law No. 15/2003 on terrorist crime eradication allows the
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 charges
being laid.
Adrianus said he sensed there was a lack of coordination
between the two institutions authorized to eradicate terrorism.
"The first possibility for the police intelligence's failure
to prevent possible terror attacks in the country is related to
friction with the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), which
expects to have the power to carry out police tasks, such as
making arrests," Adrianus said.
About two weeks after the Bali bombings, President Megawati
Soekarnoputri issued an instruction that gives the BIN chief the
authority to coordinate the planning and conducting of all
intelligence operations in the country.
Indonesia has four intelligence units, including BIN. The
other three are the Indonesian Military's Strategic Intelligence
Agency (BAIS), the police intelligence unit and the intelligence
unit at the Attorney General's Office.
Analysts have warned that intelligence agencies could compete
with each other to conduct operations in the country.
"The police do not want to make false arrests as it could
destroy their reputation with the public," Adrianus said, adding
that the police were wary over the validity of intelligence
reports made by other institutions.
It is also possible, Adrianus said, that the police had no
information about terror attacks in the country.
"The police have been focusing on their detective unit too
much lately," he said.
The police detective unit won international recognition
following the arrest of several suspects in the Bali bombings.
Indonesia had come under fire from the international community
for its reluctance to admit to the possible presence of terrorist
networks operating in the country.
"There is no other way for the police but to revive its
intelligence unit and cooperate fairly with other intelligence
institutions. Otherwise, terror attacks will be inevitable,"
Adrianus said.