RI NEEDS ANTI-SUBVERSIVE LAW : OBSERVER

Jakarta, July 27 (ANTARA) - An anti-subversive law is still needed to prevent the danger of terrorism and separatism, an intelligence affairs observer said.

"Some people seem to be traumatized by a law that permits the arrest of subversion suspects but having such a law is really a good way of preventing terrorism and separatism in the country," intelligence affairs observer Wawan Purwanto said here on Monday.

Purwanto said since the abrogation of Indonesia's anti- subversive law years ago, all security efforts to detect and prevent terrorist acts became less productive.

"In the absence of an anti-subversive law, security authorities now cannot arrest terror suspects without having sufficient evidence," he said.

Purwanto said terrorist acts were well-organized crimes against humanity but without an anti subversive law they could not be anticipated or detected before they happened.

By comparison, he pointed out, such countries as Malaysia and Singapore were still applying anti subversive laws known in those countries as Internal Security Act (ISA).

With the Internal Security Act, Purwanto said all acts of terrorism and separatism in Malaysia and Singapore can be detected before they happened.

He added that besides an anti subversive law, intelligence personnel should also be equipped with adequate up-to-date security equipment.

"Our police's outstanding achievement in uncovering terrorist acts has been internationally-acknowledged, but more than that they should be given up-to-date equipment that will enable them to detect threats of terrorism in faster and better ways," Purwanto said.

He noted more than one week after the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotel bombings on July 17, 2009, security agencies still had no positive clues on the identities of the perpetrators.

Security agencies so far had only confirmed that they belonged to the network of fugitive Malaysian-born extremist Nurdin Muhammad Top.

Even the reenactment of the two bombings on Monday, July 27, was based only on the testimony of several guests and workers who were on duty when the explosions occurred, according to Purwanto.