Arrests as IS claims attacks
JAKARTA: Indonesian police yesterday arrested three people suspected of being linked to suicide bombings in Jakarta, as the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed three police officers at a bus station and wounded 12 others.
The attack was the deadliest in Indonesia since January 2016, when eight people were killed, four of them attackers, after bombers and gunmen attacked the capital, Jakarta.
After visiting the site of Wednesday’s attacks, President Joko Widodo said Indonesia needed to accelerate plans to strengthen anti-terrorism laws to prevent new attacks.
“If we make a comparison with other countries, they already have regulations to allow authorities to prevent [attacks] before they happen,” Mr Widodo told a news conference.
The president said he had ordered the chief security minister to get the revisions done as soon as possible.
Long-standing plans to reform Indonesia’s 2003 anti-terrorism laws have been held up by opposition from some parties in parliament and concerns about individual rights.
The revisions would broaden the definition of terrorism and give police the power to detain suspects without trial for longer. The changes would allow police to arrest people for hate speech or for spreading radical content, as well as for joining proscribed groups.
Muhammad Syafi’i of the opposition Gerindra party, who chairs a committee deliberating the bill, said discussions should be completed this year but there were still outstanding issues such as ensuring checks and balances on the counterterrorism agency.
“This bill needs to be discussed in a cautious and comprehensive way because the purpose of all regulations in this country is to ensure they do not result in the slaughter of Indonesian people ... but protect them,” Mr Syafi’i said.
The IS claimed responsibility for this week’s attacks. “The executor of the attack on the Indonesian police gathering in Jakarta was an Islamic State fighter,” the group’s news agency said.