Terrorism Bill Committee Formulating Definition of Terrorism
30 March 2018 19:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Member of the special committee for the revision of the Terrorism Bill, Arsul Sani, said that the committee is still formulating the exact definition of terrorism that will be included in Law No. 15/2003 on Terrorism.
According to Arsul, the existing definition of terrorism drew criticism since it is often stigmatized certain groups, Muslims in particular.
“We aim to create a definition that completely eliminates that stigma,” said Arsul in Jakarta on Thursday, March 29.
The law states that any activities that meet criminal elements mentioned in the bill is included as acts of terrorism.
Arsul argues that acts of terrorism are something that can be done by anyone and that the definition must be agreed to divert from stigmatizing certain groups. Therefore, according to him, the special committee will ask for inputs from the National Armed Forces (TNI), the Police institution, civilians, and academics.
Director of Imparsial Al Araf said that the bill must be able to explain that terrorism is not connected to government opposition groups in order to avoid defining people who are critical towards the government as terrorists.
M Julnis Firmansyah