Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has signed two emergency decrees to combat terrorism following the devastating Bali bombing, Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said today.

Mahendra said one decree contained the anti-terrorism measures. The other would allow them to be applied retroactively to cover the October 12 bombing which killed at least 186 people on the resort island.

"The government sees it necessary to have a strong basis to fight terrorism and considers that the existing criminal code and other laws only deal with ordinary crimes," Mahendra said, without giving details of the measures.

Officials said earlier the government would have power to impose the death penalty for those convicted of terrorism and to detain terrorist suspects without trial for several months.

The decree, which won the support of parliament leaders yesterday, has been rushed through in response to the bombing. "This regulation may reduce some rights but all of this is intended to protect the greater rights of human beings," Mahendra said in response to critics who fear it could usher in a new era of Suharto-style repression.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Indonesia's response to the Bali bombings should not undermine its already weak rights record. "President Megawati and the Indonesian government must avoid the trap of issuing emergency decrees that may strengthen the role of the military in civilian affairs and lead to further human rights abuses," it said in a statement.

But Megawati said existing laws were inadequate to tackle terrorism and the existence of such a decree before the Bali blast might have prevented the attack.

Australia, which fears it lost 114 nationals in the attack, and the United States have been critical of Indonesia's failure to address the terrorism threat before the Bali bombing. Many countries are now advising nationals to avoid the country, in a new blow to tourism and already faltering foreign investment.

Officials had said the decree would authorise the setting up of an anti-terrorism task force but Mahendra said the government had decided not to do so. "We have agreed not to set up a new body but the president has the authority to take measures and the president can appoint a minister, in this case the minister of politics and security affairs, to formulate steps to implement this regulation," he said.

Current judicial provisions do not make laws retroactive. "It should not be the case that just because a regulation cannot be retroactive, those people who killed so many people in Bali can get away," Mahendra said earlier, shortly before a cabinet meeting which later authorised the decrees.

He said the decrees would be replaced by an anti-terrorism law soon to be considered by parliament.