Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Human rights monitor Imparsial has urged the government to thoroughly review its counterterrorism policy, arguing the current "repressive" approach will not prove effective in eliminating the threat.

"Under the New Order regime, there were only 11 recorded acts of terror," Imparsial research coordinator Junaedi said Friday at a press conference. "And prior to the first Bali bombings in October 2002, there were only 28 recorded acts of terror."

But since then, he went on, there had been 36 acts of terror, in spite of a 2003 law that gave intelligence and police officers wider-reaching powers to tackle terrorism. "Therefore we think the government should evaluate its policy regarding terrorism," Junaedi said.

Imparsial researcher Bhatara Ibnu Reza said the numbers proved there was something wrong with the government's current policy on dealing with terrorism.

"Dealing with terrorism is not only a matter of strengthening security officers, but also about cleaning up all government institutions and fighting corruption," he said.

Another Imparsial researcher, Al Araf, raised concerns that the greater powers afforded to law enforcement officials could be abused, thus setting back efforts to uphold human rights.

"Most of the time, the police's counterterrorism operations are over-the-top, wantonly disregarding principles of professionalism and human rights," he said.

He cited recent raids for terrorists in Temanggung and Cilacap in Central Java, and in Ciputat, Banten, where all the key suspects were shot dead at the scenes.

Most of the raids were followed by arbitrary actions and ill treatment of arrested suspects, Al Araf added. "At the end, it leads to discriminatory action through the profiling of people who dress and look a certain way," he said.

He cited moves by West Java villagers to block the burials of slain terrorist suspects in their villages. "Admittedly, tackling terrorism through the current law enforcement methods has had quite a positive impact on uncovering and paralyzing terrorist cells," he said.

However, Al Araf stressed there must also be a cap on law enforcement officials' powers in order to prevent potential cases of abuse of power.

The Imparsial researchers urged the government to amend the 2003 Terrorism Law, particularly articles that they claimed threatened civil society freedom and human rights.

Al Araf cited the law's Article 1 on the definition of terrorism, saying it could be interpreted in various ways. "The article must be fixed so that people don't misinterpret the definition," he said.

He added the government should also evaluate the performance of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry's counterterrorism unit.

The government insists the unit has limited power that does not overlap with that wielded by the Religious Affairs Ministry, the National Education Ministry, the Information and Communications Ministry and other institutions.

The National Summit earlier this month called for the establishment of a special body to prevent and combat terrorism. The new body is expected to unify all the powers wielded by the various agencies and ministries.