Expert says national security bill draft not urgent
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 01/14/2012 7:56 PM
An expert criticized the current House of Representatives deliberation on the national security bill draft, saying it wasn’t worth their time.
The draft, he went on, harbored mostly multi-interpretational articles that lacked focus.
“The bill fails to mention the sense of urgency, makes us wonder over what the intention of having this bill in the first place is,” Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) research professor Hermawan Sulistyo said Saturday.
He said among those confusing articles was article 17 of the draft that granted the military the authority to make arrests wherever they were to join forces with the police in carrying out their non-war duties.
“The military granting the right to arrest any ordinary person who isn’t breaking any military law just doesn’t make any sense,” he said. (rpt)
