Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government and Parliament have agreed on the need to set up a new body to advise the President on defence and international security issues, Chief Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced yesterday.
He announced the decision to follow up on a proposal to set up a National Security Council after a closed-door meeting between members of the country's security Cabinet and parliamentary leaders. The new outfit would be headed by the President, he added.
"The mechanism of decision-making will involve processing intelligence reports, debating alternative strategies and implementing course of action," he reportedly said in the meeting which had been called to discuss recent developments in the US-led war on terrorism.
"So we hope there will be no more unilateral decisions as all decision-making will have to go through institutional process," he said.
The plan was first hatched early this year when lawmakers demanded a more "holistic and integrated" approach to the many security-related problems in Indonesia, a source said.
A senior parliamentarian, who attended yesterday's meeting, told The Straits Times: "The suggestions have been around for some time because we have been concerned over various issues from separatism, communal violence to armed civilian groups. We believe that by establishing a new body to make decision-making more integrated, defence and internal security problems can be tackled more effectively," he said.
The new body would have members from the military, police, intelligence bodies, and other related government agencies, he said.
"In combating terrorism, for example, we will need to include the immigration authorities for cross-border issues and the central bank to tackle money-laundering issues," he said.
But the plan would likely raise fears of a throwback to the Suharto era when security coordinating bodies were used to stifle anti-government movements. In early 1970s, former president Suharto set up the much-feared Command to Restore Security and Order (Kopkamtib), giving it carte blanche to detain and interrogate oppositions to his regime.
In late 1980s, the body was replaced by Agency for Coordinating Support for National Stability, which in essence functioned similarly as the Kopkamtib. In 1999, then president B.J. Habibie disbanded the agency.
But some legislators yesterday dismissed any fears of abuse. The planned council would only make strategic policies, not execute them, they said.
Mr Susilo once again laid out Indonesia's stance on terrorism, saying battling terrorism was an international as well as domestic obligation. He also said Indonesia rejected "any attempt to link terrorism with Islam or with a particular ethnic group or nation." He added the government was pushing for a more dominant role of the United Nations in the war against terrorism.