Public participation crucial for antiterrorism movement
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri should unite the whole nation in the war against terrorism after the bomb attack in Bali so that the government regulations in lieu of antiterrorism law issued recently can work effectively, analysts have said.
Sociologists Ignas Kleden and Iwan Gardono said that the government regulations would lack power to clamp down on terrorism here unless the public at large was involved in an antiterrorism campaign through improved alertness.
Public participation, however, should be restricted to providing information to the security authorities instead of building mass organizations or groups to counter terrorism, they said.
"Any mass groups set up to counter terrorism may create another form of terror in society," Ignas said here on Wednesday.
Ignas, director of the Go East Institute research center, suggested that people and security institutions boost cooperation through information sharing.
It is hoped that better coordination between security authorities and people who receive bomb threats or find something suspicious will prevent the spread of rumors, which can terrorize the general public, Ignas added.
Iwan Gardono of the University of Indonesia (UI) emphasized that with a limited number of intelligence officers, the authorities would be too weak to cope with the increasing threat of terrorism.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made an official statement after the Bali blast that there was a possibility of a second terror attack.
However, he fell short of demanding that people unite and be more alert.
Ignas and Iwan suggested that the public could take their own initiative to boost alertness and share information on anything suspicious with the security forces.
It has been 12 days since the bomb blasts rocked Kuta, Bali, but President Megawati has not yet addressed the nation on the need to unite and boost alertness to combat terrorism.
Neither has the President established strong coordination between the relevant authorities to carry out a better investigation into the fatal bombing.
Better coordination and public alertness would help the government achieve a more effective response to terrorist threats, the two experts said.
The government has issued government regulations in lieu of antiterrorism law, but no thorough explanation has been given by the President since then on what the country would achieve or how, using the new regulations.
According to Ignas, the public could improve alertness through siskamling, the Indonesian acronym for neighborhood night patrols.
"Siskamling will help in the effort to counter terrorism. But it won't be easy," he said.
Iwan, meanwhile, added that residents in neighborhood (RT) and community units (RW) should help each other to improve security in their areas.
He suggested that people report to security officials if they were suspicious about anyone. "The patrols could be drawn from residents at RT and RW levels, to officers at district level," Iwan added.
The government has tended to ignore the role of the people: Therefore society itself should seize the initiative by improving alertness in neighborhoods, he added.