Rights activist warns of threat from new security bill
Rights activist warns of threat from new security bill
JAKARTA (JP): A leading human rights activist has said that
the bill on the state's safety and security is even more of a
threat to the public than the newly scrapped 1963 Subversion Law.
Coordinator of the independent Commission for Missing Persons
and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Munir alleged on Monday the
bill was inspired by Malaysia's much criticized Internal Security
Act.
Deliberation of the bill has been scheduled at the House of
Representatives for this month, but the government has yet to
submit the bill.
Minister of Justice Muladi recently assured it would be
submitted before the June elections.
Munir said he had read the draft of the bill on the state's
safety and security. He said the Armed Forces (ABRI) Headquarters
invited him in 1996 and 1997 to discuss the bill.
The draft, he said, was a "recycling" of the subversion law
and under which anyone could be detained for one year.
He told The Jakarta Post he believed it was unlikely that the
bill to be submitted by the government would be much different
from the original draft despite a change of government.
"We must not underestimate them (ABRI). The controversial Law
on Freedom of Expression, ratified last year, was initiated by
ABRI".
Munir said he expected the upcoming bill and the government's
proposal to include "crimes against the state" in the Criminal
Code to be "extremely counterproductive to reform development".
Minister Muladi submitted a bill to revoke the subversion law
to the House of Representatives (DPR) last week. Muladi proposed
its replacement with the inclusion of six new articles on crimes
against the state in the Criminal Code.
The six articles include regulations on crimes that endanger
the Pancasila state ideology, on the prohibition of spreading
Marxism-Leninism and acts of sabotage of state or military
installations or the distribution of basic essentials.
Unlike the subversion law, under which a violator could be
given the death penalty, the bill proposes a maximum 20-year
prison term.
Under the subversion law, law enforcers are authorized to
detain violators for a maximum of one year for questioning. While
under the Criminal Code Procedures, the maximum allowed period of
detention is 60 days.
"If the bill on the state's safety and security becomes law,
the government can use it to silence or arrest anyone regarded a
threat to its vested interests," Munir noted.
Separately, several legal experts on Monday criticized the Law
on Freedom of Expression, saying the law lacks detail and
overlaps with other prevailing laws.
Muladi has said the law stressed human rights, regarding the
right of security of people affected by, among other things,
demonstrations. The law requires police notification for
demonstrations.
The head of West Jakarta District Court, Suparno, said the law
did not clearly regulate sanctions for a violator, or whether a
protester could be charged with other related laws.
"The sanctions are not clear," Suparno said in a discussion on
the implementation of the freedom of expression law in Jakarta.
Students tried for holding demonstrations in Jakarta without
notifying the police have been fined Rp 2,000 (25 US cents). Most
have refused to pay. (prb/aan)