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New government seeks to reform spy agency
In a bid to reform the countryâs military-style intelligence system, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the leader of a coalition of political parties that support president-elect Joko âJokowiâ Widodo, has been discussing a plan to reform the National Intelligence Agency (BIN)
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n a bid to reform the country's military-style intelligence system, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the leader of a coalition of political parties that support president-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, has been discussing a plan to reform the National Intelligence Agency (BIN).
PDI-P lawmaker Helmi Faisal, who is also a member of the House of Representatives' Commission I overseeing defense, confirmed that there was a plan to make the intelligence agency more pro-civilian in its approach.
He said that one possible step would be to place a civilian in BIN's top post.
'What is important is how to improve BIN's intelligence roles in the future, particularly in anticipating non-traditional threats, for example economic crisis and diseases. BIN must also able to respect democracy values and should not use violence. Hence, both a civilian or a reformed military person can fit the profile,' he said.
Speculation is also rife that the PDI-P has its own candidate for the BIN top post.
Al Araf, the program director of Imparsial, a human rights watchdog, told reporters on Friday that more competent civilians were needed to fill important posts in the agency to improve its professionalism.
- Placing competent civilians in BIN will improve its professionalism, says watchdog
- Criticism that BIN is dominated by military figures and is 'one step behind' in fight against terror
He said that currently, important posts in the agency, such as its head and deputies, were dominated by active military personnel who were not always competent in the field.
'It makes our intelligence too militaristic and often considers citizens who are vocal against the government as a threat,' said Al Araf.
The country's intelligence agency was under the authority of the Army from its inception in 1946.
In 2001, it was reformed as an agency directly under the president, when it adopted its current name, BIN, during the time of former president and prominent Muslim cleric Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid.
Since the structural reform, BIN has been led by a non-military figure only once ' from 2009 to 2011 ' when police general Gen. (ret.) Sutanto took the helm.
The current BIN head is an Army general, Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman.
Imparsial executive director Poengky Indarti said that in many countries, intelligence agencies employed highly competent civilians.
She cited as an example the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as it was filled with civilians who were experts in their posts.
As BIN was dominated by military personnel, it lacked expertise in the field of economic intelligence and national strategy, she said.
'BIN is supposed to seek and process accurate data and make recommendations to the president so that he can easily make a decision, but to date it hasn't been able to perform its duties well,' she said, adding that BIN was always one step behind in terrorism cases.
Poengky added that the 2011 Intelligence Law said BIN was under the coordination of the government, not the military commander, which meant the agency was a civilian agency and its head must be a civilian.
Imparsial proposed several names for the BIN head position, including Ikrar Nusa Bakti, a professor in political science, and Tubagus Hasanuddin, another PDI-P lawmaker of House Commission I, who is also a retired Army general.
Eva Kusuma Sundari, a
PDI-P politician familiar with human rights and legal issues, said placing civilians in the agency's strategic posts would unlikely materialize, as they lacked the required competencies.
'It's down to technical matters and skills. Does a civilian have the skills to sit in a top BIN post? I don't think there's any civilians that have adequate competencies,' she said. (ask)
