Rights activists concerned over terrorism agency

Rights activists concerned over terrorism agency

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Military chief's proposal to
establish a new antiterrorist agency has sparked fear among human
rights activists of a resurrection of the New Order regime's
dreaded internal security agency (Kopkamtib).

The activists warn that if the plan materializes, the agency
would allow widespread human rights abuses to be carried out by
the state in the name of security.

"I'm afraid that the agency will become a new version of
Kopkamtib, which was dreaded on account of its immense
extrajudicial powers," said Munir, founder of the Commission for
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

Kopkamtib, whose official name was the Operational Command for
the Restoration of Security and Order, was established in 1965.
It was renamed the Coordinating Agency for Supporting the
Development of National Stability (Bakorstanas) in 1988. The much
criticized agency was eventually disbanded in 2000.

The antiterrorist agency was proposed on Wednesday by
Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Widodo AS at a hearing with
the House of Representatives. He argued that the agency's
establishment was urgent because terrorism was already here to
stay while the existing intelligence agencies were not capable of
handling the problem.

Critics have countered by arguing it would be more feasible to
revitalize the existing agencies as establishing a new
organization would not only take time but also require
substantial funds.

Hermawan Sulistyo, a scholar from the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences (LIPI), for example, suggested that the government
revamp Wanhankamnas (National Security and Defense Council) and
convert it into a kind of national security council of the kind
that already existed in a number of countries in the region.

"The council could be redesigned to accommodate the defense
and security functions so as to combat terrorism," Hermawan told
The Jakarta Post.

The council was established in 1952 but was later hijacked by
president Soeharto to strengthen his grip on power.

Munir was of the opinion that the government would be better
advised to strengthen institutions like the National Intelligence
Agency (BIN).

"The proposed agency could be misused by the government to
appropriate extrajudicial powers to itself," he said.

Hendardi, chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
Rights Association (PBHI), expressed similar fears about the new
antiterrorist agency.

He said such an agency could easily be abused by the military
to suppress civil rights and arrest anybody they considered a
"terrorist".

"We should not give the possibility to the military of
controlling civilians," he told the Post, adding that the
military would define terrorism based on its own perceptions.

The agency, he argued, would not be credible because the
military itself was often accused of committing terrorist acts.
It could be that the military wanted to create the agency so as
to create the public perception that the military itself never
resorted to terrorist tactics so as to achieve its ends.

So far, the establishment of the new antiterrorist agency has
won the support of retired military and police officers,
including those in the House of Representatives.

A cautious response came from Koesparmono Irsan, a member the
National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and a former
national police chief, who said that if the agency were to be
formed, its powers should be strictly circumscribed by the laws.

"Excessive powers could easily be misused. And anyway, we have
dissolved Bakorstanas, so why should we set up a similar agency"
he asked.

Koesparmono added that an antiterrorist agency was acceptable
as long as it only had the function of coordinating antiterrorist
operations, which should be conducted by the police with some
military assistance.

Voicing strong support was the former chief of State
Intelligence Coordinating Board (Bakin) Lt. Gen. (ret.) Zaini
Azhar Maulani.

He said the mooted agency was precisely what the country
needed now that terrorism was becoming a national, and not only
an international, threat.

"Terrorism as a movement has already developed into such a
sophisticated operation. It will never be the same again as in
the 1960s and 1970s. Terrorism cannot be defeated using the old
methods," Maulani told reporters. (02/09)