Jakarta – The House of Representatives is showing no signs of urgency in approving the intelligence bill, despite the government's continuous insistence on strengthening the intelligence agency as soon as possible on the heels of recent terrorist attacks and the radicalization of youth.
The House previously targeted July of this year to pass the bill, which would grant the national intelligence agency wide-ranging interception authority.
However, Mahfudz Siddiq, head of House Commission I which is dealing with the bill, said it had been decided in a commission meeting on Monday that the target was no longer viable. "We should not let public worries over recent threats push the bill through," Mahfudz told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Speaking in a seminar at the Antara news agency building, Mahfudz said that, while the commission still aimed to pass the bill as quickly as possible, it should only be approved after all the issues had been prudently discussed.
House Commission I member Teguh Juwarno, who also attended the seminar, said the commission acknowledged the need to give the intelligence agency authority to tap conversations. "However, there should be clear regulations, including on permission from the courts to do so," Teguh said.
Regarding the authority to make arrests, Teguh said, "The commission is still not convinced about agreeing to this."
Teguh and Mahfudz agreed that the public should broaden its perspective on intelligence, as it dealt with more than just security matters. "Limiting the grounds of discussion to recent security threats may result in the false perception that the intelligence bill deals only with security matters such as terrorism," Mahfudz said.
According to Mahfudz, the state already has adequate institutions to handle terrorism and radicalism, such as the police's Detachment 88 and the National Antiterrorism Agency.
Both institutions were endowed with greater authority and better weaponry than the National Intelligence Agency, he said. "Intelligence regulation should address a much wider scope than just security threats," Mahfudz said.
The director general of Law at the Law and Human Rights Ministry, Wahidudin Adam, shared Mahfudz's sentiment, saying that a regulation on intelligence should envision the bigger picture of national security that also covers financial, socio-political and cultural matters.
"However, establishing an intelligence agency without giving it necessary authority would be absurd," he said.
Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro previously said that law enforcement agencies could not effectively tackle the recent bomb threats and youth radicalization issues because there was no adequate intelligence law.
"We are behind Malaysia and Singapore in terms of national security because they have internal security acts that can prevent terrorism," Purnomo said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com on April 29.
Sutanto, head of the National Intelligence Agency, said the agency must be equipped with an adequate legal basis to work effectively.
"Creating an internal security act similar to Singapore and Malaysia might be unnecessary," Sutanto said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com on April 15. "The important thing is to create an adequate law that can help us fight these terrorist groups." (mim)