State security bill needed, Muladi says

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Muladi said on Monday that despite mounting criticism against the draft of the state security bill, the government would not veto it.

Students told legislators on Monday that they rejected the government-sponsored state security bill because they feared it would allow excessive power of the military.

Activists and scholars have also voiced protests against the bill, saying the power of the authorities under the bill could easily go unchecked.

Muladi told reporters at the House of Representatives that the law was needed to replace decree no. 23/1959 which was "very dangerous".

The 1959 decree allows the government to announce a state of emergency without prior consultation with other parties.

The draft bill says such an announcement needs prior consultation with the president-appointed Council for Security and Legal System, and the Council for National Defense and Security.

In response to allegations that the bill would be bad for human rights, Muladi said, "Don't judge the bill so quickly as a bad one, we can discuss the difficult matters."

Muladi said the government introduced the bill based on a decree of the People's Consultative Assembly from last November's General Session. The Assembly decree no. X/1998 revokes the 1963 Law on subversion.

Muladi said while a state security law was needed, it would not be like the Internal Security Act applied in Singapore or Malaysia, which he said was "oppressive".

However he did not elaborate on the differences between the draft bill and the acts in the above countries.

The country, he said, was facing a critical time, with unrest in areas such as Ambon, Aceh and East Timor and with tens of thousands of displaced people. There was the possibility that unrest could spread to other areas, he said.

"The victims would be the common people," he said, adding it would be wrong to have no rules to anticipate the situation.

In response to the question, which were the threats the government feared, Muladi said, "Threats from outside the country and from inside the country are linked."

The remaining problem would be to ensure the law be enforced while respecting human rights, Muladi, a former member of the National Commission for Human Rights, said.

A legislator who met the students also told The Jakarta Post that replacing the decree was urgent because there was a possibility that the government, if necessary, could impose the state of emergency at any time based on the 1959 decree, which does not require any prior consultation with the House.

"But the United Development Party (PPP) will take into account the people's aspirations in improving the draft bill on state security", Hadimulyo of the PPP said.

A student leader, representing 27 state Islamic Studies Institutes from all over Indonesia, Tubagus Ace Hassan Sadeli, said, "The Indonesian Military (TNI) should provide safety for all citizens rather than creating fear."

The students also met the armed forces and Golkar factions.

Given so much resistance to the bill, political scholar Nurcholish Madjid voiced earlier calls to drop its deliberation altogether.

"Given the present psychological condition of society the new law will be responded to with suspicion," he said after his installment as the main researcher of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

Any case regarding security should use existing rules "taking into account the spirit of reform", he said. (05/06)