Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Senior legislator Theo L Sambuaga has denied suggestions the House of Representatives is secretly working with Indonesia's Ministry of Defense to delay passage of the military tribunal bill, which would allow members of the Armed Forces to be tried in civilian courts.
A source within the House, also known as the DPR, told the Jakarta Globe that senior ministry officials had met secretly with senior members of House Commission I for defense in Jakarta to discuss delaying the bill, while at the same time accelerating deliberations on the equally contentious state secrecy bill.
Critics have said the secrecy bill may lead to abuse of power and limit press freedom with its draconian penalties that could land media organizations fines of up to Rp 100 billion ($9.9 million) and journalists jail sentences of 20 years if they publish what the state deems to be a secret.
Most members of the defense commission are also on the House Special Committee deliberating both bills.
Sambuaga, the Commission I chairman, denied that the secret meeting took place but confirmed committee members were preparing to expedite the passage of the secrecy bill. He also dismissed concerns about the secrecy bill.
"We guarantee that there will be no articles that can harm freedom of the press, democracy and human rights in the state secrecy bill," Sambuaga claimed.
Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said his ministry still hoped both bills could be endorsed before the current House's term expired this month. "I still hope we can finish the bills deliberation in near time," he said.
Juwono also denied the allegations that a secret deal had been reached between his ministry and the defense commission.
Special Committee Chairman Guntur Sasono told journalists that legislators would hold a series of closed-door meetings at the Atlet Century Park Hotel in South Jakarta from today until Sunday to discuss the state secrecy bill.
He said the private meetings were needed to create a "conducive environment" in which lawmakers could accelerate the drafting of the bill, with senior members of the Defense Ministry, which had proposed the bill, only attending as representatives of the government.
"We must accelerate it because we only have, effectively, two weeks left," Guntur said.
Previous meetings to deliberate the bill were also held on in August in Cikopo, West Java.
Talks on the military tribunal bill, meanwhile, have been deadlocked for nearly 11 months, with the Defense Ministry and Armed Forces insisting that soldiers suspected of civilian criminal offenses continue to be investigated exclusively by military investigators. The current policy maintains that civilian authorities can only become involved after the military briefs are handed over to prosecutors and civilian courts.
Observer Agus Sudibyo, from the Science, Aesthetics and Technology Foundation (SET), said it was likely the ministry and some lawmakers were actually conspiring to endorse the state secrecy bill while hampering passage of the military tribunal bill.
House members responsible for drafting the military tribunal bill were last week criticized for poor attendance during deliberations of the bill.
Agus said that because of the limited time available to draft the bills, it was better that the whole process be delayed. "An acceleration could potentially result in poor quality bills," he said.