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View all search resultsLawmakers get tough on terror
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Personnel of the National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism squad are on guard following a search in a house belonging to a suspected terrorist in Ransasawo, Bandung, West Java, on May 26, in this file photo. (Antara/Novrian Arbi)
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n light of recent terror attacks and the participation of hundreds of Indonesian citizens in the Islamic State (IS) movement overseas, lawmakers are upping the ante on counterterrorism policies.
After more than a year of deadlock in an attempt to revise the 2003 Terrorism Law, the House of Representatives has agreed to a government proposal to allow the prosecution of individuals who join terrorist organizations abroad.
The House also agreed to extend the detention of terrorism suspects to 21 days from the current seven days in solitary confinement during the preliminary investigation phase, during which they will also be denied the right to be accompanied by lawyers and barred from communicating with their family.
With the legal leeway, counterterrorism authorities will have no barriers in building a case to prosecute those who return from fighting with the IS in Syria and from participating in the Marawi siege in the Philippines.
The House’s special committee on the amendment of the law, Arsul Sani, said the legal leeway and the detention extension were among several pending issues that had finally been agreed to by the House and the government during a meeting last week.
“If an individual joins a paramilitary group carrying out terrorist attacks abroad, they can be charged as criminals when they return to Indonesia,” Arsul, a United Development Party (PPP) legislator, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Prevailing law does not stipulate criminal charges against Indonesian citizens who travel abroad to join terror movements.
