Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Human rights groups are worried about the wiretapping provisions of the House of Representatives' draft bill to regulate the State Intelligence Agency (BIN).
"We appreciate that lawmakers have scrapped the controversial articles on arrest and investigations. However, other parts of the bill still contain threats to human rights, especially those related to wiretapping," Al Araf, program director of the human rights NGO Imparsial, said on Friday.
Authority to tap communications, though necessary, should be allowed only under strict circumstances, he said. "Otherwise, it might be abused and violate peoples privacy rights."
Under the draft bill, intelligence agencies would allowed to intercept the communications of anyone deemed a threat to the state without a court order, including their telephone calls, text messages, faxes, e-mails and other online messages.
"Given the wide range of communications, the proposed wiretapping [authority] would be a serious threat to every citizen's privacy," Al Araf said.
The BIN should be required to obtain permission from a district court before intercepting private communications to prevent potential abuses, he said.
Muhammad Najib, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission I overseeing defense, said that wiretapping had been the subject of protracted debate, particularly on the need for court authorization. "The debates were not only between lawmakers from different political parties, but also between the parliament and the government," he said.
Najib, a National Mandate Party (PAN) politician, said lawmakers understood the government's desire to avoiding the courts. "[The BIN] may have to be quick to respond to threats against the state which could appear suddenly and dangerously while the process to acquire court permission might take time," he said.
To bridge the gap, the draft bill proposed creating a oversight committee comprised of lawmakers from different parties who would monitor the BIN and receive public complaints, Najib said. "This team will help monitor the BIN's actions without disrupting the agency's work."
Legislators on such an oversight committee would be required to take an oath, he added.
The draft bill also proposed creating a State Intelligence Coordinating Agency (LKIN), which might wind up being more powerful than the BIN, Al Araf said. The LKIN's main duty would be to coordinate the activities of the BIN and the intelligence units of the Indonesian Military, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office, among others.
Commission I chairman Mahfudz Siddiq from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said LKIN's mission would resemble the BIN's. "The LKIN would be authorized to intercept communications as well as trace suspicious financial transactions," he said.
Al Araf said the LKIN's remit might overlap with other institutions. "Such an agency should be limited to a coordinating function," Al Araf said.
The government began deliberation on the draft last week after the House forwarded the bill in December. Protests from human rights activists led to the death of a previous intelligence bill that was drafted by the government and sent to the House of Representatives in 2005.
Other unfinished debates centered on the release of classified information, Najib said. "The government said certain intelligence information must not be publicized ever. Most lawmakers meanwhile think that all information needs a confidentiality period, but the length would vary depending on the potential effects to state security," he said.