DOES INDONESIA NEED A TWO YEAR EXTRAJUDICIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001604

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, INL, S/CT; INL FOR
CARLON; S/CT FOR MAHANTY; DOJ FOR CRIM AAG SWARTZ;
DOJ/OPDAT FOR ALEXANDRE/BERMAN/JOHNSON; NSC FOR E.PHU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/25/2019
TAGS: ID PGOV PREL PTER
SUBJECT: DOES INDONESIA NEED A TWO YEAR EXTRAJUDICIAL
DETENTION REGIME?

REF: A. JAKARTA 1470

B. KUALA LUMPUR 633

Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION TED OSIUS, REASONS: 1.4 (b) & (d
)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The Indonesian Parliament has recently
proposed amending the terrorism law to permit two year police
detention without the filing of charges. Such a provision,
similar to the Internal Security Acts in Malaysia and
Singapore, does not appear necessary and may prove
counterproductive in combating terrorism. It may also
trigger a societal backlash and undermine Indonesia,s
progress toward rule of law. End Summary.


2. (C) On August 31, 2009, Indonesia,s parliament discussed
a series of anti-terrorist measures, the most controversial
of which was a proposal to detain terrorism suspects by the
Indonesian National Police (INP) for up to two years without
judicial review (reftel A). Ansyaad Mbai, Chief of the
Counterterrorism Desk at the Coordinating Ministry for
Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, stated that the
current seven-day period was "an insufficient amount of time"
for investigations to take place and that the two-year
period, like that established by Malaysia's Internal Security
Act, would allow the INP sufficient time to conduct full,
effective investigations.


3. (SBU) Under current Indonesian law, in terrorism cases,
the INP may hold suspects up to seven days before providing
preliminary evidence demonstrating the terrorists, criminal
activities. The INP, however, have an additional four months
to conduct the investigation after arrest before referring
the case to the prosecutors at the Attorney General,s Office
for the filing of formal charges, and ultimately a public
trial.


4. (SBU) Indonesia has consistently secured convictions of
terrorists through the established legal system. Since its
creation in 2006 with USG support, the Attorney General's
Office (AGO) Terrorism and Transnational Crime Task Force has
convicted all sixty-four terrorists, including forty-three
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) members, in the public courts. While
there has been some criticism of the length of sentences for
some of these terrorists, none have received sentences under
two years, imprisonment.


5. (C) An extrajudicial detention regime might not further
counterterrorism goals. Due to enhanced cooperation in
recent years between the AGO Task Force and Detachment 88,
Indonesia,s counterterrorism police, there are fewer major
JI operatives that the police are failing to arrest out of
fear that there is insufficient evidence to secure a
conviction. Sidney Jones, Indonesian counterterrorism expert
for the International Crisis Group, noted that it is possible
that Ubaid might fall into this category, but she noted that
such arrests might perversely undermine the police,s quiet
deradicalization strategy to flip JI members, whose
information has been used to catch other JI terrorists. She
expressed her view privately that such a law would be a
terrible idea apart from its rule of law implications -
essentially no more that a political band-aid that would
encourage the police simply to round up suspects, rather than
engage in the harder but more important work of dismantling
the JI organization.


6. (C) The creation of an extrajudicial detention regime
without public charges for up to two years carries with it
other collateral dangers. An Internal Security Act can
become a tool of political suppression and, as neighboring
Malaysia has experienced firsthand last month, lead to large
scale public demonstrations and mass arrests (ref B). There
is no guarantee that the two year extrajudicial detention
would be limited to JI and JI-like terrorists. In Papua and
Aceh, for example, Detachment 88 is already active in making
arrests, suggesting the provision could be used against
separatists and others suspected of committing crimes more
political in nature under the rubric of combating terrorism.



7. (C) Public trials of terrorists also promote a valuable
societal goal - they serve as transparent statements

JAKARTA 00001604 002 OF 002


condemning terrorist,s actions. By contrast, secretive
detention proceedings would feed conspiracy theories
regarding the nature of Indonesia,s counterterrorism
efforts.


8. (SBU) A two year extrajudicial detention regime also
appears to be at odds with Indonesia,s international rule of
law obligations. Indonesia acceded to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2005.
Article Nine of the ICCPR requires that any person arrested
"shall be brought promptly before a judge" or other competent
judicial officer. The term "promptly" has generally been
interpreted to mean within two days.


9. (C) Not all Indonesia,s law enforcement community
appears to be firmly behind the extrajudicial detention
procedure. The day after the parliamentary hearing, Attorney
General Hendarman Supandji expressed his concerns to the
DOJ/OPDAT Resident Legal Advisor that Indonesia needed to
focus on non-punitive approaches to combat terrorism. Gories
Mere, Chief of the National Narcotics Board, was more direct
in a September 16 meeting with the DCM. Mere stated that
while Indonesia needed a broader conspiracy law and expanded
arrest authority, a Malaysian-style Internal Security Act
would "take away democratic aspects and that would not be in
line with legislation."
HUME