Jakarta – It is not enough to hold a judicial review of the anti-terrorist laws numbers 15/2003 and 16/2003 which were promulgated three months ago. These laws must be totally revised or amended so they do not allow for their misuse by the authorities.

This was the view expressed by Imparsial (Indonesian Human Right Watch) at a press conference in Jakarta on Friday. At this opportunity, Imparsial also expressed its regret over the promise to amend the laws which was made by the government and which has not been fulfilled three months after the anti-terrorism laws were legislated.

"But in fact, to this day no amendment has not been carried out", said the program director of Imparsial, Rachland Nashidik. This was despite the fact that the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Manusia Yusril Ihza Mahendra, had himself promised to carry out the amendment several days after the laws were passed by the parliament. At that time, Yusril promised that within a month, a draft amendment would be completed (Kompas, March 11).

According to a press release signed by Imparsial's executive director, Munir, the government has admitted that the planned amendment has not been done and that the amendment itself is not a priority for the government.

Not serious

According to Imparsial, a government statement which was issued by Yusril indicated that from the beginning the government was not really interested in making the amendment.

The government has also been reluctant to apply the principle of public accountability and has violated the principles of good governance. The government has violated the general principle of governance which should uphold high standards of morality, decency and legal norms which are derived from the principles of legal certainty, orderly state administration, openness, proportionism, professionalism and accountability.

Imparsial researcher, Bathara Ibnu Reza, said that the most important article which need to be amended was Article 26 which states that evidence from intelligence reports is sufficient to initiate an investigation.

According to Bathara, there is a significant risk of misuse because an innocent person can be detained and investigation on charges of terrorism by security personnel on the most minimal evidence. (dhf/wis)

[Translated by James Balowski]