Eurasia Review
16 March 2016
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- Revising Indonesia’s Anti-terrorism Laws – Analysis
Revising Indonesia’s Anti-terrorism Laws – Analysis
Although much has been done to strengthen the country’s legal framework to overcome the terrorism threat since 2002, the law enforcement regime is still weak. Pre-emptive and preventive measures are being proposed to strengthen the capacity to deal with a growing terrorist threat especially after the January 2016 attacks in Jakarta.
The pressure to revise Indonesia’s 2003 anti-terrorism laws has gained great urgency following the January 2016 terrorist attacks in Jakarta. The attacks were the first since the 2009 bombings of the Ritz Carlton and Marriott hotels in the Indonesian capital and were also President Joko Widodo’s first experience of a terror attack since he took office in October 2014.
Indonesian police must be credited for having arrested and sentenced more than 1200 terrorists in the past 12 years, with more than 100 of them killed in counter-terrorist operations. Still, a major consensus that emerged following the Jakarta attacks was that the existing laws were weak and needed strengthening. Additions of new provisions were needed to preempt and prevent future attacks.
… Bilveer Singh, an Associate Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore, is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also the current President, Political Science Association, Singapore and National Coordinator, Southeast Asian Conflict Studies Network.
CENS / Online
Last updated on 17/03/2016
