Indonesia prepared a presidential regulation on anti-terrorism measures as an immediate response to bomb attack in Bali, while at the same time completing the anti-terrorism bill to get approval from the parliament, a senior minister said in Jakarta Wednesday.
"Both have the same contents," Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters.
He added the emergency regulation is needed, as it would take longer time before the bill was endorsed by the House of Representatives (DPR).
The decision, he said, was taken by a cabinet meeting Monday because of, among others, the continuing international pressures for Indonesia to seriously combat terrorism.
The regulation would allow the government to implement strictermeasures against terrorist acts without first getting approval from DPR, which is expected to pass the anti-terrorism bill as soon as possible.
It also carries a maximum of debt penalty or terrorist acts.
The government actually submitted the bill in July, but was rejected by DPR members for fears that it would be used as a weapon by the government to capture its political opponents, including Muslim hard-liners.
The opposing party also said several articles in the controversial bill opened the door to human right abuses.
Following the bomb blast in Bali on Saturday last week, which killed more than 180 people and wounded around 300 others, the parliament urged the government to re-submit the bill soon.
(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2002)
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