Support looms for security decree reintroduction
JAKARTA (JP): Support grew over the weekend for President Soeharto's call on the succeeding People's Consultative Assembly legislators to redeliberate a security decree.
The chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council, Sudomo, said the possible reintroduction of the 1988 decree would not necessarily mean the revival of the defunct Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order (Kopkamtib). The body was successful in handling major political crises in the 1970s but also struck fear in many people.
"No, it's not true (the decree would revive the command)," he told reporters after attending the President's state-of-the- nation speech before the House of Representatives.
Sudomo, a former chief of the command, said the decree could serve as a preventive measure against latent security disturbances and subversion.
He cited various upheavals over the past several years and said that, had the government relied solely on the Criminal Code Procedures, it would have been too late for the security forces to take action on any security problems.
"The Criminal Code Procedures only allow security officers to take action whenever an incident has already happened," he said.
Sudomo appeased concerns over placing undue power on a president if the decree were reintroduced. He said the House of Representatives was in charge of a mechanism that controlled a president's authority.
The decree says a president must report to the House whenever he or she exercises the authority and will be held responsible for his or her decision.
It allows a president to take preemptive measures when the state ideology Pancasila, the constitution and the development program are endangered. It was first passed by the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly in its special session in 1966 and was maintained until the 1988 general session.
Golkar secretary-general Ary Marjono said Soeharto made the call for a redeliberation of the security decree in a closed-door lecture that marked the opening on Aug. 9 of a crash course for future House legislators.
Separately, former House speaker Kharis Suhud asked people to view the President's call positively, saying it would be up to the future legislators to answer the call.
"Leave it to the People's Consultative Assembly," said Kharis, who appeared reluctant to comment on the issue. Kharis chaired the assembly in the 1988/1993 period.
However, he said that as far as security was concerned, Indonesians had no cause to worry.
Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung and former Army chief of staff Gen. (ret) R. Hartono have also jumped on the bandwagon of those supporting the idea of reintroducing the security decree.
Both expressed agreement that Indonesia should learn from its past experience in coping with crisis.
The two minority parties, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), said they had yet to come to a decision on whether to support or oppose the call.
"We are studying it from many view points, including its relevance to the current development, urgency and how it should work," PPP deputy chairwoman Aisyah Amini said yesterday.
She said the Moslem-based party did not treat the President's call as top priority in its ongoing preparations for the general session of the People's Consultative Assembly next March.
The 1,000-strong assembly will convene, draft and adopt the 1998 Broad Guidelines of State Policies. It will also adopt a president and a vice president.
PDI chairman Soerjadi reiterated that the party's central board of executives would cautiously look into the call.
"We have to know the motives behind the idea. Is it in anticipation to the future or (because of) a recollection of the past," he said.
He noted that the assembly decided not to deliberate the security decree in 1993 only after much debate. "But if the idea resurfaces now, the PDI is set to discuss it," he said. (imn/amd/10)