Megawati wins backing for anti-terrorism decree

Indonesia’s president today won crucial parliamentary backing for an emergency anti-terrorism decree after the bomb attack that killed almost 200 people on Bali.

Megawati Sukarnoputri met Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung to discuss the decree, which is based on legislation that has been stalled in Parliament for months over fears it could give the security forces too much power.

“The Parliament gives its full support to the government to issue the anti-terrorism government regulation,” Tandjung said.

The decree, which is expected to be announced as early as tomorrow, would give the government expanded power to fight terrorism – but could put Megawati on a collision course with the country’s Islamic extremists.

The decree has raised fears that the Indonesian military, with its long history of human-rights abuses, could be unleashed from the relative restraints imposed by the still-struggling democracy that has taken root since dictator Suharto was toppled in 1998.

The decree, according to recent drafts, would relax evidence rules and allow a suspect to be held for three days based on intelligence reports that they had committed or threatened acts of terrorism. A judge could extend the detention after reviewing the report in open court.

“Anyone who deliberately commits violence or violent threats that can lead to mass terror and fearfulness as well as mass victims ... could be sentenced to death or life imprisonment,” the draft said.