RI antiterror policy should focus on prevention: Analysts

Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite making progress in clamping down on suspected terrorists, Indonesia lacks a comprehensive policy to combat terrorism and puts too much weight on responding to possible attacks rather than preventing them, analysts said on Thursday.

Terrorism should remain a high concern throughout this year even as public attention starts to shift toward the 2004 general election, they said.

About 70,000 foreigners have fought or trained in Afghanistan and half of them are from Southeast Asia, said foreign analyst Edy Prasetyono of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

"But the government doesn't track their movements, so where are they now?" he said, speaking at a media conference on Indonesia's economic and political outlook.

He added that Indonesia's slack control over its sea and air space meant that people could easily move about without detection.

"What we need is a policy on combating terrorism -- a policy that is comprehensive, coherent and integral," said CSIS military analyst Rizal Sukma.

He said the government had so far only focused its efforts on responding to terrorist attacks.

On that front, much has been achieved since the Oct. 12 Bali bombing, which killed more than 190 people, mainly foreign tourists.

Indonesia set up an antiterrorist desk to bypass bureaucracy among the authorities that handle security affairs. Slow intelligence sharing and a lack of coordination were a source of criticism against the government.

The police went out of their way to show steady progress in the Bali bombing investigation, and have detained 15 bombing suspects with the help of the Australian Police.

Military antiterror exercises also intensified in the wake of the bombing. These measures and the passing of an antiterrorism ruling in less than a month after the bombing turned some of the criticism into praise.

"For 2003, however, the issue of preventing terrorism, called counterterrorism, should be of greater importance," Rizal said, adding that preventing terrorist attacks required measures on a much broader front than what the government had taken so far.

The government should do more about transnational crimes, such as money laundering, the smuggling of small arms and immigration issues, he said.

"If someone can easily obtain an identification card, while that person is, say, holding a Dutch passport, than we have a real problem here," Rizal said.

CSIS analyst Edy Prasetyono said the antiterrorist bill contained measures to take against terrorist strikes, but left out details on measures to prevent them.

"How do we control the movement of people and their financial sources," he asked. "The war against terrorism is a war of intelligence."

The antiterrorism bill could instead pose a greater risk to civil liberties than being helpful in fighting terrorism, Edy said.

Rights activists have warned of a draconian law with which an authoritarian regime could suppress democracy. Edy explained that the concerns arose from the public's lack of trust in the government. Although Singapore and Malaysia both impose tough security laws, there were few objections because the public trusted their governments.

"The government here must strike a balance between guarding security and upholding civil rights," said Edy.