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anti-subversive law was outdated and should be abolished.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)