Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia has removed major obstacles in its efforts to crack down on terrorism with parliament's recent approval to endorse two presidential decrees into anti-terrorism laws.

Passed on Thursday, after being issued four months ago in the wake of October's Bali bombings, the decrees prove Jakarta's long-time critics wrong for accusing it of not doing enough to fight terrorism. Unlike in the past, the Bills received support from most factions in parliament.

Kudos to the government and parliament, said political analyst Bantarto Bandoro. "There seemed to be an awareness and consensus within the parliament to restore international and domestic confidence in Indonesia," he said.

There may have been pressures from both within and without the country for the need for a stronger legal basis to crack down on terrorism, he said.

"The possibility of US aggression against Iraq has caused anticipation of more terror acts, especially in Indonesia," Mr Bantarto said. And Indonesia needs a legal basis immediately to facilitate the counterterror efforts."

Legislator Firman Jaya Daeli of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle said: "Tackling the threats of terrorism is one of our nation's biggest challenges now, and this calls for a systematic approach to prevent, investigate and uncover the network of the terror groups. But we did not have a law on terrorism, and we were afraid that a legal vacuum would make our war on terrorism ineffective." Previously terror-related cases were treated like criminal cases in Indonesia's judicial system.

The newly endorsed laws authorise the death penalty for some terrorist acts and detention without trial. They were made retroactive to cover the Bali bombings. Also, intelligence reports can now be used as evidence, and the intelligence agency can arrest terror suspects.

The government has vowed to get ready an amendment Bill by next month to tweak the two laws a little. This might see the introduction of some checks on the powers given to the intelligence agency. The change will also make counterterrorism operations more transparent and accountable.

But while the new laws are welcome, convincing the Indonesian public will be tough. They have not forgotten the abuses of power that took place during the 32 years of the Suharto regime.

Some legislators even doubted the effectiveness of the laws in putting terror suspects behind bars, saying their endorsement processes were flawed.

Legislator Alvin Lie of Reform Faction, one of the two factions which rejected the laws, told The Straits Times: "According to the Constitution and the parliament's regulation, a presidential decree issued during an emergency situation must be approved by parliament as soon as possible.

"Since it was issued in October, we have met many times in between recesses, yet we never discussed the decrees for reasons I don't know, this means the decrees should have been invalid by now."

But the biggest concerns about the new laws are that they would be misused to suppress the opposition. Human-rights groups have warned that an arrest by the intelligence body could lead to extrajudicial arrests. And militant Muslim groups have expressed fears of being targeted by the laws.