The Terrorism Law revision must include human rights protection to prevent incidents such as the recent death of terrorism suspect Siyono from reoccurring, House of Representatives deputy speaker Fadli Zon has said.
The Terrorism Law revision must include human rights protection to prevent incidents such as the recent death of terrorism suspect Siyono from reoccurring, House of Representatives deputy speaker Fadli Zon has said.
He made the remarks after inaugurating the leaders of the special committee (pansus) that will deliberate the law revision. He said that the presumption of innocence must be upheld until a trial process proved otherwise.
“We obviously must eradicate terrorism. But prevention is also important. We don’t want to be a country where safety becomes a prominent issue, as it was during the New Order,” Fadli said at the House complex in South Jakarta, on Monday.
The government plans to amend the 2003 Law on the eradication of terrorism and the 2013 Law on the prevention and eradication of terrorism financing.
The revision committee is made up of 30 members, consisting of lawmakers from House Commission I overseeing intelligence, defense and foreign affairs and Commission III overseeing legal affairs.
Gerindra Party faction politician Muhammad Syafi’i is leading the committee, along with Hanafi Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Syaiful Bahri Ansori of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and Supiadin Aries from NasDem as deputy chairmen.
Supiadin Aries said the revision would not only aim to strengthen counter-terrorism measures, but would also prioritize the rights of all terrorist suspects. The committee wants the revision to include protection for terrorism victims, preventive measures and an early detection mechanism.
“We have to respect [people’s rights], there should not be any article in the law that could lead officers to violate human rights,” Supiadin said as quoted by kompas.com on Monday.
In the near future, he continued, the committee would hold a working meeting with the government to hear what officials wanted to include in the revision of the Law.
The House leaders did not give a specific time limit for the committee to complete their deliberation of the draft revision of Law No. 15/2003 on counterterrorism, Fadli added. (afr/ags)