T

he twin suicide bombings that left three policemen dead on Thursday in East Jakarta, coupled with the brazen terrorist attack in the commercial heart of Central Jakarta last year, in which eight people were killed, including the four perpetrators, highlight a lack of urgency in strengthening anti-terrorism law to prevent future attacks.

The much-awaited revision to the 2003 Terrorism Law, which would give police the power of preventive detention of suspects without trial for up to six months, remains in limbo despite calls by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo since last year to accelerate its completion.

Since April last year, two months after the gun and bomb attack near the Sarinah shopping center, the amendment of Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism has seen little progress as the government and the House of Representatives have yet to agree on several key revisions.

Among the contentious issues is the government’s request to expand the authority of the police to arrest, detain and question suspected terrorists without prior investigation.

Dubbed by lawmakers and human rights activists the “Guantanamo” article, the revision would also allow the police to place terrorism suspects, defendants and former terrorist convicts along with their families in a rehabilitation center for six months as a preventive measure.

“Guantanamo” refers to the notorious United States-run Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, a military prison located within the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, which has earned a grim reputation because of the harsh treatment — sometimes amounting to torture — endured by terrorist suspects.

Under the proposed revision, the police would also have the authority to arrest people for conveying hate speech, distributing radical materials and taking part in paramilitary training, even training that did not involve weapons of any kind.

Under the current system, the police can only arrest actual attackers but not potential attackers.

“We will not rush to finish the discussion of the bill just because President Jokowi made the appeal. We’ll work based on the existing timeline,” said National Mandate Party (PAN) legislator Hanafi Rais, the deputy chairman of the House’s special committee for the law’s amendment.

“We hope to finish it in two hearing sessions or by late this year,” he said on Friday.

Hanafi said the majority of House factions disagreed with the request to strengthen the police, given concerns over potential abuses.

As a solution, Hanafi said, the committee was currently devising specific sub-articles that would regulate under what circumstances the police could arrest potential terrorists.

“We don’t want to see in the future the police arrest someone just because he talks with someone overseas. If the conversation is about a terror plot then that’s okay. This is to minimize the potential of abuse of power,” said Hanafi, whose party is a member of Jokowi’s ruling coalition.

Passing the revision has been cited as a test for Jokowi’s coalition, which controls more than 60 percent of the seats in the House.

Jokowi renewed his call late on Thursday for the immediate passing of the amendment.

“If we compare with other countries, they already have legislation to allow authorities to prevent attacks before they happen,” he said.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto, who in the past has shown no interest in speeding up the revision of the law, said he would convene with relevant ministers and heads of agencies to devise a strategy to urge the House to swiftly pass the revisions.

“It’s impossible for security personnel to perform their duties while being ‘handcuffed’ by insufficient legal powers, which currently do not allow authorities to carry out strict preventive measures to eradicate terrorism,” Wiranto said.

Wiranto dismissed concerns about the “Guantanamo” article, saying that the revised law would not violate human rights principles.

Concerns over abuse are largely a hangover from the trauma of then president Soeharto’s New Order regime, which imposed draconian anti-subversion laws that trampled civil liberties and human rights.

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said the revision was needed in order for the counterterrorism authorities to list terrorist organizations and arrest any individuals who joined such groups.

“If we prioritize national security then civil liberties should be sacrificed. However, if we want to open up civil liberties then we should give up on national security. The law should give greater power to us to ensure that national security is protected,” Tito said.

The National Police’s counterterrorism squad Densus 88 have arrested five suspects linked to Wednesday’s attack in Kampung Melayu after the police said the two suicide bombers, identified as Ichwan Nurul Salam and Ahmad Sukri, were members of the Jamaah Anshar Daulah (JAD) terror group linked to Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian militant currently fighting with the Islamic State (IS) movement in Raqqa, Syria. (dis)