Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The government has submitted the latest version of the National Security bill to the House of Representatives and has claimed the new draft will not contravene democratic principles.
At a hearing with lawmakers on Tuesday, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro repeatedly said the new bill accommodated public input. However, he failed to specify which articles in the bill promoted democratic principles. Instead, the new bill still contains articles that critics say are prone to abuse.
"We've deleted five articles from the older bill to make it correspond with the newly-endorsed social conflict and intelligence agency laws," Purnomo told lawmakers on Tuesday.
It was the first explanation since the government submitted the bill in March last year.
The five articles being deleted from the bill are those related to the intelligence agencies, including the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), the Police Intelligence Agency, as well as other state intelligence bodies.
It has also omitted an article that specifies the President's authority in managing national security, even though it still mandates the President to chair efforts in countering "threats against the nation".
Purnomo ensured that the national security bill would pro-democracy. "It will not contradict laws on public information as well as on freedom of the press. So, it is not true that the bill will violate freedom of the press, nor it will increase authoritarian leadership" Purnomo explained.
He added that the bill would continue to promote the roles of the National Police (in safeguarding national security), as is mandated by Law No. 2/2002 on the national police.
"It's untrue that we are attempting to reduce the police's authority in order to raise military supremacy like in the New Order era," Purnomo said.
The government's plan to set a regulation in countering threats against national security has continued to raise objections from civil society organizations, mainly due to the government's unclear definition of a threat.
The old draft defines threats as all attempts, both from within the country and abroad, that potentially cause disturbances and put individuals, societies and the state in danger.
The draft revision identifies threats as attempts, actions or roles that are proven to harm the unity of the nation in terms of security, ideology, politics, economics and culture.
"The definition is still debatable and potentially misinterpreted. How can we, for example, measure someone's ideology as threatening? You cannot arbitrarily punish people for their ideology," activist Al A'raf from rights watchdog Imparsial told The Jakarta Post.
Al A'raf cited the mandate to set up a national security council, headed by the President, as another problem of the bill that had to be settled.
"The bill mandates excessive authority to a national security council to determine a threat and the necessary action taken against it," he said.
"I don't think we need such a council because we already have a coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister whose job is to coordinate with other institutions to keep the country safe."
Headed by the President, a national security council would involve institutions responsible for the country's security including the Attorney General, BIN, the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police, the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), regional governments, and civil groups.