T

he Civil Society Coalition for Reform on the Security Sector is calling on the government to refrain from declaring a civil emergency or martial law as part of its efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The coalition, comprising at least nine advocacy groups, said the government should optimize the tools based on Law No. 24/2007 on disaster mitigation and Law No. 6/2018 on health quarantine. Article 51 (2) of the Disaster Mitigation Law stipulates that the president must declare a disaster emergency before a national emergency.

The president, therefore, must issue a decree to declare a disaster emergency that “will provide a legal basis for a social restriction policy”, the coalition said in a statement released on Monday.

“Large-scale social restrictions should be issued according to the Health Quarantine Law to avoid [an excessive impact of security measures on] health issues.”

The coalition also called for better-coordinated measures to handle the rapid spread of COVID-19 by establishing a clear chain of command.

Like many other countries, Indonesia has been struggling to curb the spread of COVID-19 since its first two confirmed cases were reported in early March.

The contagious respiratory disease has infected 1,528 people and led to 136 deaths as of Tuesday in Indonesia. Of them, 81 people have recovered.

To step up the country’s efforts in handling the outbreak, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said the government will issue a policy of “large-scale social restriction” and a tightened physical distancing policy.

According to Article 59 (3) of the Health Quarantine Law, large-scale social restriction comprises temporary closure of schools, offices, religious activities and activities at public places.

“As I said earlier, a policy for a civil emergency is necessary,” Jokowi said after a meeting on Monday.

However, the declaration of a civil emergency would “prepare us if the situation gets very concerning”, said presidential spokesperson Fadjroel Rachman.

“For this stage, it is still a large-scale social restriction in line with Law No. 6/2018 and a legal discipline according to the National Police chief edict issued on March 19,” Fadjroel said in a statement released on Monday.

Meanwhile, a coalition of legal watchdogs asked law enforcement on Monday to temporarily refrain from putting more people in penitentiaries to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Law enforcement could instead use a bail system for light offenses and criminal acts without victims or violence, according to the Justice Monitoring Coalition, which comprises 16 legal advocacy groups.

“It is essentially a suspension,” Erasmus Napitupulu, executive director of the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), which is grouped under the coalition, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

“If someone is subject to arrest, his family can pay a sum of money as a guarantee that he will not run away.”

The request came in light of the growing number of coronavirus cases in Indonesia. Both government and advocacy groups have highlighted the need for preventive measures against the fast-spreading respiratory illness in penitentiary facilities.

Three members of the coalition, namely the ICJR, the Research and Advocacy Institute of Court Independence (LeIP) and Indonesian Judicial Research Society (IJRS) also emphasized in a separate statement that “the overcrowding issue and the spread of COVID-19 make penitentiaries not a safe place” to have people serving their prison terms.

Jakarta, for example, has eight penitentiaries and detention centers that jointly hold 18,531 inmates, far higher than the total capacity of 5,791 prisoners, according to data updated on March 9 from the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Correctional Facilities Directorate General. That means an overcrowding rate of 320 percent.

“Under the current conditions, we should avoid imprisoning people as best as we can,” the advocacy groups’ statement said on Monday. “This is a good step toward using a restorative justice concept.”

The World Health Organization has made a similar recommendation, encouraging countries around the world to reduce the number of inmates to prevent a massive spread of the contagious respiratory illness.

The groups also called on judges to choose rehabilitation for drug convicts over imprisonment, as drug offense was the country’s top criminal act brought to trials. “Based on their assessment and a recommendation from doctors and labs, judges can decide to order rehabilitation,” the statement reads.

The request was in line with measures taken by the government regarding arrest procedures. Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly sent a letter on March 24 to the Supreme Court chief justice requesting that the judicial body put suspects under house arrest or city arrest instead of imprisoning them at penitentiaries, citing Article 22 of the Criminal Law Procedures Code.

The minister also sought to temporarily stop people from visiting the penitentiaries, extend terms of imprisonment and conduct trials via online video conference.

The Supreme Court issued on Saturday an instruction to proceed with trials via teleconference.

Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Hari Setiyono told the Post that “trials could proceed via teleconference.” (dfr)