Heru Andriyanto – The proposed intelligence law that is being discussed at the House of Representatives could bring the nation back to the repressive era of the Suharto regime, in which the state spied on citizens for unspecified reasons, experts warned.

"We are concerned that the House and the government seem to be in a hurry to get the bill passed in July, regardless of its obvious weaknesses that may cause major problems in the future," said Poengky Indarti, executive director of nongovernmental group Imparsial on Sunday.

"The bill grants the intelligence agencies greater authority to deal with suspected terrorists, separatists and threats to security. It is basically a duplication of the intelligence work by the Dutch colonial rulers, which was in turn adopted by Suharto to spy on his own citizens," she told the Jakarta Globe.

The bill would allow the intelligence agencies to, among other things, arrest suspected terrorists and separatists while the existing Criminal Procedural Code rules that this authority rests with police and prosecutors.

Moreover, the bill would also grant intelligence officials the power to wiretap terror suspects without having to obtain a court order while the 2003 counterterrorism law says that only police can wiretap suspected terrorists, and only after securing permission from a judge.

"From these [provisions in the draft bill] alone, we know that the bill is in conflict with existing laws and it may cause the powers of the military, the police and the intelligence agencies to overlap. This makes these institutions vulnerable to future conflict," she said.

Poengky also said the House and the government had ignored the potential threats resulting from the bill as the ongoing discussions were lacking transparency and public participation. "We and other competent communities never get invited for hearings, while there are many people who have positive input and want to speak," she said.

Some lawmakers have also criticized the draft bill, saying the powers described in it could be abused.

Tjipta Lesmana, an intelligence analyst, warned the bill does not regulate the coordination among intelligence units at the police, the military, the Attorney General's Office, the Customs and Excise Directorate and the Ministry of Home Affairs.