RI antiterror policy should focus on prevention: Analysts
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.