Security bill could meet defiant public

YOGYAKARTA, Central Java (JP): More reactions over the drafting of the state security bill were expressed on Friday by scholars here.

Lambang Triono, a sociologist at the Central Study for Peace and Security (PSKP) said the bill would provoke public resistance.

"They are fighting for freedom from fear, so they won't comply with it," he said.

He explained that the military lost its credibility as a peace mediator after it ended operations last year in Aceh. A militaristic approach would therefore not solve any problems, he said, citing violence among residents in Maluku and West Kalimantan.

In Jakarta, Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto said on Friday that the government agreed to the legislators' stance that changes in the draft bill would include the need to consult President-appointed bodies on security prior to an announcement of a state of emergency. Legislators have said such an announcement needs prior consulting with the law-making body.

Rights activists in Jakarta have urged civil disobedience amid signs that the bill will go through.

M. Mahfud, a lecturer on state administration, said in Yogyakarta that ratification of the bill would be "reckless" and would foster more suspicion toward the intentions of the military.

He said the draft bill proves that the military is not ready to terminate its nondefense role. He reiterated earlier demands that legislators stop deliberation and leave it for the new members.

In Irian Jaya, students rejected the government-sponsored bill on state security on Thursday, saying it would grant excessive power to the military and the government in the event of perceived threats to the state.

Daniel Randongkir, a coordinator of Irianese Students for Human Rights said that once the bill was endorsed, rights abuses would increase in Irian Jaya and across the country.

Even without such a bill, "many Irianese have been massacred like animals by security personnel during 36 years of integration" with Indonesia, Daniel said.

"So if the bill is endorsed, the military will have a justification to intimidate, torture, arrest and even kill anybody, resulting in mounting rights abuses," Daniel said.

Vocal Irianese have always been charged with being separatists or members of disturbance groups which justified such actions, he said.

Though undeclared, "a state of emergency has always existed in Irian Jaya," he said, citing similar conditions in East Timor and Aceh. (44/34/05/06/edt)