Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – With terrorism still very much a threat across the archipelago, the government is now preparing to upgrade the existing anti-terror desk to allow it to investigate and arrest suspects while boosting its intelligence capacity.
The current anti-terror desk, which is under the auspice of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry, only coordinates anti-terror operations and provides terrorism intelligence without the authority to conduct its own investigations or arrest suspected terrorists.
The government has unveiled its plan to upgrade the desk, which according to many, was described as an institution that lacked competence and authority.
Head of the anti-terror desk Insp. Gen. (ret) Ansyaad Mbai acknowledged his desk's incapability to work properly to anticipate terrorism because its intelligence aspect was not given the right to conduct investigations, apart from investigations that were controlled by the police.
"Therefore we need a new rule that would allow intelligence forces to conduct their own investigations, including summoning and arresting people. But of course there should be a legal guarantee that would prevent the intelligence officers from abusing this power," he said.
Ansyaad said the body would be permanent and would bring together the best officials from different institutions, including the police and the military.
Experts have agreed that the new anti-terror body should be able to tackle problems, ranging from preventing potential terror attacks to striking at alleged terror cells.
"But we need to receive some confirmation first whether the body would be designed as a coordinating body or a body that able to do its duties independently, just like the National Anti-Narcotic Agency," noted criminologist Adrianus Meliala told The Jakarta Post Sunday.
He then added that new status would bring different consequences to the upcoming anti-terror body both legally and financially. "Because at the end of the day, the people also have the right to ask of the body's competence in combating terrorism," he said.
Adrianus said another problem that would need to be solved was the matter of who should be in charge. "In my opinion, this institution is better led by a police official rather than military people. The police are more able at handling civilian problems," he said.
Komaruddin Hidayat, a noted Islamic scholar, said besides the authority to launch attacks on terror groups, the new anti-terror body should also be given the task of limiting the development of religious radicalism.
"Therefore the involvement of several ministries is a must. We also need to ask our hard-liner colleagues to join forces as they would know how the minds of religious-based terrorists works," he said.
Terrorism expert Dynno Chressbon suggested the government should immediately establish the new anti-terror body because even though right now the threat of terrorism was still low it did not mean the threat had disappeared.
"There are many potential bombers who are still free out there. Thus we must move to anticipate the threat with effective solutions," he said.