After a long deliberation process – costing three successive parliamentary hearing sessions – the House of Representatives' Commission I defense, foreign affairs and information and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) eventually agreed on Thursday to resolve all contentious issues in the intelligence bill and finalize it for endorsement at a House plenary session within the next few days.

The eventual completion of the intelligence bill deliberations was satisfactory in a sense that both parties – the House and BIN, which represents the intelligence community and the government – have agreed to remove or revise controversial articles, which have been in and out of the commission's deliberation agenda.

One of the controversial articles that were eventually scrapped was the one that proposed authority for the intelligence apparatus to arrest and conduct a week-long ongoing investigation into people whose activities are suspected of threatening national security and the country's sovereignty. The article was removed, as it turns out to be against the spirit and lawful procedures stipulated in other laws and the Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP).

Another controversial article was the one that would regulate the authority for the intelligence apparatus to intercept communications, including telephone calls, text messages, faxes, emails and social network postings, of anyone deemed a threat to state security. In its initial version of the draft law, the intelligence apparatus was given the authority to wiretap anyone suspected of threatening the state's security.

Amid strong resistance from the general public, a revised version of the draft law later on proposed that the intelligence apparatus need only inform a court whenever they intercept communications by suspected persons. However, the revised edition of the intelligence bill concerning this particular article has received even stronger resistance from the public, who expressed fear that such an uncontrolled authority was prone to abuse and would completely deny the people's freedom of expression and opinion.

The draconian authority to wiretap suspected persons was eventually maintained; with the proviso, however, that such an authority to intercept communications of suspects must be supported by adequate evidence and will only be granted upon a court's permission.

Another important aspect in the final version of the intelligence bill is the one that allows the authorities to check on financial transactions by, and seek further information about, persons linked with terrorism, secessionism, sabotage, spying and other security-disrupting activities. In checking on the financial flows of suspects, BIN will receive data from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (PPATK), and Bank Indonesia, while all banking institutions are obliged to provide necessary information to BIN.

Intelligence agents are also allowed to cooperate with the police in seeking further information during suspects' interrogations. They will work in compliance with the code of ethics, and the bill carries harsh sanctions for those who abuse their power.

Now that the bill is awaiting the House plenary session to be passed, extra caution is needed so as to monitor and prevent possible last-minute omissions or revisions of the content of the intelligence law. A case in point was the missing clause on the dangers of tobacco in the 2009 Health Law, which was only made public; the clause was eventually reinstated after a coalition of anti-tobacco activists brought the case to the police and the media.

Any irregularities this time, however, will not proceed unpunished as human rights watchdogs have readied themselves to challenge such violations at the Constitutional Court – a practical channel available in our legal system.