Security bill will not replace subversion law

JAKARTA (JP): The government reiterated yesterday the controversial subversion law is here to stay, despite the growing clamor for it to be replaced by an internal security act.

Minister of Defense and Security Edi Sudradjat said after a plenary meeting with the House of Representatives that the government was drafting an internal security bill, that it would not replace the 1963 Subversion Law.

He defended the subversion law, which carries a maximum penalty of death and is known to have been used to cover a very wide range of offenses. He admitted however that the law did need improvement.

Edi said the draft is being discussed at the State Secretariat. A government-sponsored bill must be approved by the State Secretariat before going to the House.

"The internal security bill covers different issues from those in the subversion law. The two regulations are very different things."

Edi said it was unlikely that the House would begin deliberating the internal security bill before the current legislators end their five-year term on Sept. 30.

"We'd better work step by step. It takes more than one or two days to draw up a bill," he said.

The House is deliberating four security and defense affairs bills. They are on military tribunals, mass mobilization, military discipline and the national police.

Edi was commenting on a call from the United Development Party (PPP) faction that the government should submit the internal security bill as soon as possible.

PPP spokesman Zarkasih Nur told the plenary session discussing the four bills yesterday that an internal security act should serve as a revision of the subversion law.

"Punitive measures against those charged with subversive crimes cannot be separated from all efforts to maintain national security," Zarkasih said.

PPP concluded that the subversion law did not comply with a 1966 decision of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly which suggests the abolition of all laws whose substances is contrary to the 1945 Constitution.

Edi said: "We are considering adjustment of the law in order to catch up with the recent development of our society. It needs a process, so give us time."

He stressed that a subversion law remained relevant although the government had been successful in maintaining political stability.

Support

Hari Sabarno, vice chairman of the Armed Forces faction on House Commission I for foreign affairs, defense and information, backed the government's stance.

"People should not worry about the legal consequences of the law provided they do not try to violate it. I believe the government will not apply the law arbitrarily," Hari said.

The latest instance of people being charged with subversion is the ongoing trials of nine People's Democratic Party activists and a union leader in connection with their alleged roles in the July 27 riots.

The same charges look certain to be leveled against four youth activists who have been accused of inciting riots in Tasikmalaya, West Java, in December.

Hari said that a national security act should regulate all measures that could possibly be taken by security authorities when the state is in danger, while the subversion law determines measures that can be taken against political criminals.

Hari admitted the subversion law contained clauses known as "rubber clauses" that are notoriously stretchable to cover a wide range of offenses. "It's important, therefore, to avoid the application of the subversion law if other rulings are sufficient to punish someone," he said.

The Indonesian Democratic Party has joined the call for the abolition of the subversion law, saying it paves the way for human rights violations.

Party spokesman B.N. Marbun, said the internal security act could include some clauses of the subversion law provided they were relevant to the current situation. (amd)