Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Results from a preliminary investigation conducted by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) have revealed that the escalating tensions in Poso, Central Sulawesi, were allegedly stage-managed by the military to create unrest that would later serve as a pretext for the endorsement of the controversial national security bill.
Komnas HAM commissioner Siane Indriani, who heads Komnas HAM's investigative team on the Poso tensions, said the team had gathered enough evidence to indicate that the country's security forces experimented with social conflicts in Poso.
"We discovered tip-offs and warnings were distributed to people in the area before any attacks happened. We believe that the messages also reached the security authorities but nothing was done to prevent the threats from being carried out," Siane said on Tuesday.
The Komnas HAM report also said that instead of preventing possible attacks, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police decided to deploy more personnel to secure Poso only after violence had broken out. Siane said the military reinforcements were aimed at giving the impression that Poso was unsafe.
Central Sulawesi Police said on Monday that 1,185 police officers and 170 TNI personnel had been deployed for an operation in Poso to uphold law and provide basic social services following a series of terror attacks in the area late last year.
Komnas HAM also accused the security authorities of not taking immediate action to prevent terror attacks from triggering social conflicts.
The national security bill, which is currently being deliberated by representatives of the government and members of the House of Representatives, will allow the country's security forces to play a greater role in efforts to counter national security threats.
In the existing draft bill, there is no exact definition of what can be considered a potential threat to the country which, according to rights activists, will encourage a draconian response. Komnas HAM will soon be submitting its report findings to the TNI and police for clarification.
"Apart from submitting our findings to the military and police, we want them to explain their intentions in implementing the national security bill," Komnas HAM commissioner Siti Noor Laila said.
Earlier on Monday, Komnas HAM issued a statement opposing the national security bill, saying that if passed into law it could take the country backward to the kind of security imposed during the era of president Soeharto's authoritarian regime.
Komnas HAM chairman Otto Nur Abdullah argued that in an emergency situation, the bill could give the security authorities, the TNI in particular, tremendous powers that may result in severe operational practices.
He said that approving the bill would be akin to reviving the Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order (Kopkamtib), the highest security authority under Soeharto.
Contacted separately, TNI spokesman Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul denied the allegation, saying that the TNI had nothing but good intentions in helping the police to creating a conducive situation in Poso.
"There is nothing true in Siane's allegation. The military works under one command, TNI chief Admiral Agus Suhartono. He ordered us to help the police in handling [the situation in Poso]. We worked under the police's orders and none of our personnel contravened those orders," Iskandar told The Jakarta Post.