Threat of subversion is still very real, Sudomo says
Threat of subversion is still very real, Sudomo says
JAKARTA (JP): An advisor to President Soeharto says that threats of subversion are very real so the anti-subversive law is still needed to protect the state.
Chief of the Supreme Advisory Board Sudomo said, after meeting with Soeharto yesterday, that if the 1963 law is abolished, as some people have recently demanded, Indonesia would have no other means to cope with the danger.
"The danger of subversion is there," he said. "If the law is abolished, what other laws do we have to prevent subversive activities?," he said.
Sudomo cited a number of incidents he branded as subversion and which occurred when he was the chief of the Internal Security Agency (Kopkamtib) from 1974 to 1983, including the anti-Soeharto student demonstrations in 1978.
Sudomo froze the student councils in universities and banned a number of newspapers, including the dailies Kompas, Pelita, Merdeka, Sinar Pagi, Sinar Harapan and The Indonesia Times.
"There were attempts to overthrow the legitimate government and replace the state ideology," he said. "The law exists because there's the danger of subversion."
Sudomo named Malaysia and Singapore with their internal security acts as being among countries which have the power to bypass legal procedures and detain people for the sake of preventing subversion.
The National Commission for Human Rights last week said the anti-subversive law was outdated and should be abolished. The commission and other human rights activists said crime against the state is already dealt with by the criminal code.
Sudomo said the criminal code has sanctions against subversive activities, but does not prevent them from occurring. "Now, if I wanted to prevent people from staging demonstrations, I would be censured. Kopkamtib used to be able to prevent such things."
The human rights' commission late last year called for a review on laws which were no longer relevant, and those which it alleged trample on people's basic rights. The No. 11, 1963 law on subversion was among such laws, it said.
Attorney General Singgih has voiced a similar opinion.
"If we have to wait until there is evidence of subversive activities (as required by the Criminal Code), then we'll have to wait until we see this country destroyed," Singgih said.
Proponents for the revocation continued their campaign.
J.E. Sahetapy, a professor of law at Airlangga University in Surabaya, told The Jakarta Post that the revocation is "a must" for the sake of justice and democratization.
"This particular law has bolstered Indonesia's image as a state of control, and encouraged a process of 'legal decay' within the administration," he said.
"The power holders have been using the law to gag their political adversaries," he said. "This New Order administration shouldn't be using a law established during the Old Order administration under the late president Sukarno."
He also criticized the government for failing to heed the clamor for the abolition of the law. "The government seems to be just listening, nodding, but not taking any action," he said.
Sahetapy suggested that the law be "frozen" before finally being revoked.
In Jakarta, Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, the chairman of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy, criticized the expansive definition of "subversive" because it sometimes includes those who merely have different points of view of the state ideology, Pancasila.
"In a democratic country, a person has the right to express ideas which are different from those of the government. This action cannot be considered a crime," he said.
That person, he said, should not be charged before the court. (swe/15/imn)