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Court rejects request for Intelligence Law review

The Constitutional Court has rejected a request to review Law No

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Thu, October 11, 2012

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Court rejects request for Intelligence Law review

T

he Constitutional Court has rejected a request to review Law No. 17/2011 on state intelligence, stating that the law provides a clearer and stricter legal basis on how intelligence units should operate.

“[We] declare that the Constitutional Court rejects applicants’ entire review request,” Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD said during a hearing in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Mahfud said the request lacked legal standing.

The request was submitted in January by human rights activists from various NGOs, including Imparsial, the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).

The activists claimed articles in the law created opportunities for irresponsible parties to abuse the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), and could lead to a revival of New Order-era tactics including the kidnapping or mysterious disappearance of political opponents labeled as “potential threats”.

“The applicants’ reasons are based on trauma from the past authoritarian regime. Now, we are heading into a more democratic and open government,” said judge Anwar Usman.

With the ruling, BIN now has the legal basis to wiretap conversations, a privilege that was previously solely held by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

“Other intelligence agencies in foreign countries also have such authority. It is needed for them to acquire and verify information that is hard to obtain,” Anwar said.

The applicants also considered some articles in the law to be open to multiple interpretations and could be used to curtail basic human rights.

Among the 13 articles submitted for review was Article 1, which contains a loose definition of “threats” against national security.

The applicants suggested a more specific definition of “threat” be used to keep the law from being abused by irresponsible parties. However, the court disagreed with the applicants.

“If the law only details specific threats, BIN will have no authority to respond to types of potential dangers that are not listed,” Anwar said.

Further, he said the law actually gave a clearer framework and boundaries for how BIN should operate. Before the passage of the law, BIN had the authority to arrest people. But, Anwar said, the agency now had no such authority as the law required BIN to cooperate with other law enforcement authorities to apprehend people.

Meanwhile, human rights activists lamented the Constitutional Court ruling.

Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) director Nurkholis Hidayat, for instance, said the law could be used as a basis for other repressive regulations currently being deliberated at the House of Representatives, like the national security bill and the mass organization bill.

Nurkholis said that he could only hope that the government would not abuse the law.

Elsam’s Wahyudi Djafar was far less optimistic.

“Welcome the authoritarian government,” he said. (riz)

 

 

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