Jakarta – Witnesses and whistle-blowers are not sufficiently protected by the law, which is open to abuse and does not stipulate the need for risk analyses, experts say.
Abdul Haris Semendawai of the Witness and Victim Protection Agency said, "we need to make a more detailed law, especially regarding whistle-blowers".
"The protection law stipulates the utilization of technology to shield witnesses, for example by conducting testimonies via video conference during a trial," Abdul said after an international seminar on witness and victim protection in Jakarta.
"However, the judges and prosecutors do not really understand this," he added.
Abdul also said the Indonesian protection law needed more provisions that would ensure greater protection for witnesses, including whistle-blowers, such as risk assessment for witnesses.
"We do not have an academic risk analysis to assess the level of danger a witness can face," he said. "The implementation of risk analysis can start within the internal bodies of an agency," he added.
There have been some cases in which witnesses were not well protected, and subsequently suffered abuse, including physical harm.
There have been several recent cases in which witnesses have faced risks of harm, in particular the case of religious rights activists Mohamad Guntur Romli and Nong Darol Mahmada and that of former National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, who revealed corruption in the police force.
In September 2008, Guntur and Nong testified in court against the Islam Defenders' Front (FPI), whose members were on trial for charges of violently disrupting a peaceful demonstration by the National Alliance for Freedom of Faith and Religion in support of followers of Ahmadiyah in June of 2008.
Some 70 religious activists were injured before the police broke up the confrontation and made arrests.
During the trial session at the Central Jakarta District Court, Guntur and Nong were harassed and assaulted by members of the FPI immediately after they testified, highlighting weaknesses in the current witness protection law.
The Witness and Victims Protection Agency cited injuries suffered by Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji in police custody as evidence for the pressing need to revise the 2006 Law on Witness Protection.
Susno was arrested and remains in police custody on charges of accepting bribes shortly after he blew the whistle on case brokers, police officers and prosecutors for their alleged roles in the release of tax official Gayus Tambunan from charges of soliciting bribes from a taxpayer.
According to the Witness and Victims Protection Agency, the current witness protection law cannot accommodate cases involving whistle-blowers who are witnesses as well as suspects.
"One of the reasons the protection law needs to be revised is because of the problems arising in the current whistle-blower case," he said.
He added that the law should include an exact definition of the criteria for determining when someone could be classified as a whistle-blower.
It is not only witnesses and whistle-blowers who are at risk of abuse. Lawyers, in particular, have been attacked, and at least one judge has been assassinated.
Recently, two members of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, Uli Parulian and Nurcholis Hidayat, were assaulted at a court house canteen during a break during a hearing on the Blasphemy Law earlier this year.