After the latest terror attacks, Jakarta has to balance prevention and human rights
One of President Joko Widodo’s immediate goals is to reform the country’s anti-terrorism legislation in order prevent attacks. Although the Jakarta bombers were under surveillance, police could not act to stop them. As the Islamic State group becomes a major threat in the country, moderate Islamic groups are called to check Friday sermons in mosques. Singapore and Malaysia are a model to fight extremism.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – As a result of the terrorist attacks that hit Jakarta on 14 January, security is again an emergency in Indonesia. The country’s authorities are now wondering how best to prevent a repeat and fight Islamic extremism linked to the Islamic State (IS) group.
For government officials, the latest attacks show that the war on terror cannot be solely reactive, chasing after the culprits to arrest them. In too many cases, terrorists are further radicalised in prison, able to make converts and maintain contact with their external associates.
A few days ago, Densus 88 anti-terrorism squad detained seven people from West Jakarta because of their links with IS and for posting propaganda videos online.
In order to deal with the emergency, President Joko Widodo plans to the reform the country’s anti-terrorism legislation to improve prevention rather than simply respond to law breaking.
Reacting to the Jakarta attacks, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said, “We had already identified the culprits and knew about their activities. We were monitoring them for a long time, but since the legal system is very weak, the 19 suspects were not prosecuted and no action was taken to stop their plans."
"This,” he explained, “taught us that we must take preventive measures, and organise de-radicalisation programmes, without ignoring the suspects’ human rights” following the examples of Malaysia and Singapore, which allow "monitoring and prosecution of those who return from Syria.”
“At present,” the cabinet secretary added, “we do not have the legal basis to carry out preventive operations even though we know of at least 100 Indonesians who have returned from Syria."
According to Indonesian government figures, at least 384 Indonesians joined the IS in the Middle East.
Another problem is that existing anti-terrorism laws prevent actions against extremist propaganda conducted in public and in mosques.
As part of his anti-radicalisation programme, President Widodo elicited the support of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s two largest moderate Islamic organisations.
“The president,” said former Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan, “asked them to vet Islamic teachings so that they do not contain provocative messages during Friday prayers (or on other occasions)."
The existing anti-terrorism laws – No. 9/Year 2013 and No. 15/Year 2003 – were approved at a time when the main concern was to prevent the state from exercising excessive power.
Under the Suharto regime (1966-1998), the military intelligence had a lot more freedom and could stop potential criminals.
Moreover, not all Islamic clerics had the right to preach without prior government approval; and Friday sermons were regularly monitored by the authorities.
When Suharto fell, the laws that allowed such government surveillance were scrapped in the name of freedom of speech and human rights.
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