Jakarta – Political activists are calling for a radical reform of the country's intelligence agencies to prevent extrajudicial killings and the suppression of information.
Rafendi Djamin, coordinator of the Human Rights Watch Group, said the main task of intelligence bodies was to seek information related to the nation's security and analyze it, not to execute people.
"Intelligence agencies that kill people can be called "black" operations. They are used by powerful parties to assassinate people who oppose them," Rafendi told The Jakarta Post.
"This kind of action happened a lot during the Soeharto era and during the 1998 reform drive, when intelligence agencies disappeared many dissidents," he said.
Meanwhile, Usman Hamid from human rights body Kontras said intelligence agencies were not authorized to suppress the information they had gathered, let alone to kill people.
"According to the intelligence code of ethics, intelligence agents are forbidden to hurt anybody during information gathering in the field," Usman said Thursday.
Rafendi said reform of the intelligence sector should be conducted soon because many Soeharto-era cases remained unsolved. "Reform is urgently needed. The public must know that reform has not touched all issues yet, including the intelligence sector," he said.
He said the intelligence sector affected almost all the public sectors, but this important field was not fully reformed yet. "The government can use the Munir case to create a democratic intelligence system," Rafendi told reporters at a press conference concerning the Munir investigation and the reform of Indonesia's intelligence services.
Usman said the Munir case could also create momentum for cleaning up the image of the intelligence sector in Indonesia.
"Many people think the Munir case will diminish the intelligence agencies. But on the other hand, the settlement of the Munir case could be a turning point for the agency to conduct a reform," he said.
"New names have appeared on the case review, such as Asmini, Avi and Petruk. These people should be investigated thoroughly, including their roles in Munir's death. Don't only use them as additional evidence," said Usman. The three names were revealed during the acquittal review of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto.
On Wednesday, the third case review of Pollycarpus, who was convicted of Munir's murderer and then acquitted and released, brought testimony from Raymond "Ongen" J.J. Latuihamallo, who retracted his statement that he had seen Pollycarpus and Munir speaking at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf cafe in Singapore's Changi airport.
Ongen said he was forced to confess by police investigator Mathius Salempang. But the police defended the interrogation, saying that Mathius was not part of the process.
Meanwhile, Makmur Keliat of the University of Indonesia, said any reform of the agencies should also involve intelligence coordination as there were many agencies in Indonesia. "There should be a body which reports to the President, coordinating all of the country's intelligence agencies," he said.
Lack of coordination among agencies endangers the nation's security, he said. "The Maluku case is an example of weak coordination. It would not have happened if the agencies cooperated well," Rafendi said.
Last month, South Maluku Republic activists raised their flag in front of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his visit to Ambon. The flag was intended to show to Yudhoyono and national and international officials that the Maluku people still wanted their freedom.