Indonesia has drawn up plans for tougher anti-terrorism laws following last month’s militant attack on the capital, including detention without trial for up to three months compared with a week now, government sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
The proposals are likely to draw fire from human rights activists, who have warned against jeopardizing hard-won freedoms over nearly two decades since the end of authoritarian president Suharto’s rule.
However, officials anticipate little opposition in parliament to the legislation, which would not be as strict as counter-terrorism laws passed in recent years by neighbors Australia and Malaysia.
President Joko Widodo’s government moved quickly to reform the country’s 2003 anti-terrorism law after Jan. 14, when four men attacked Jakarta’s business district with guns and explosives. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the assault, in which the militants and four others died.
Details of the overhaul have been kept confidential, but two government sources with direct knowledge of the draft law said it would broaden the definition of terrorism and make it easier to both arrest and detain suspects.
