"I consider it necessary to improve coordination among the relevant ministries and institutions. In its absence, it would not work optimally and would not have any effect," Tantowi remarked here on Monday.
Law No. 17 of 2011 on state intelligence is relatively new and has been designed as a long-term counterterrorism program, he affirmed.
It is futuristic and could anticipate terror threats that could endanger the countrys survival, the lawmaker explained.
"It is not necessary to revise the law on intelligence as it is still good and just needs to be implemented," he stated.
State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Chairman Sutiyoso had earlier sought a revision of the law on intelligence to grant greater authority to the agency to enable it to hunt down and arrest terrorists.
Yahya, however, remarked that the BIN was mainly tasked with providing early detection and preventive measures instead of making arrests.
The BIN should provide crucial intelligence information to the Police and the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI), which will follow it up by carrying out actions and legal enforcement, he stated.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics has blocked several radical websites and social media accounts supporting acts of terrorism, after Jakarta was hit by terror attacks on January 14, 2016.
"After monitoring and receiving reports from the community regarding the owners of social media accounts that supported the Sarinah bomb attacks on January 14, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics decided to block them," the offices head of information and public relations, Ismail Cawidu, noted in a text message.
Eight people were killed in the recent terror attacks, including five of the attackers and three civilians, of which one was a Canadian national and the two others were Indonesian citizens.
Some 24 people, including five police officers, were injured in the terror attacks.
The social media accounts and radical sites that have been blocked include Facebook accounts under the names of Muhammad Subkhan Khalid, Batalion Inghimasi, and Mujahidah Sungai Eufrat.
The ministry has also blocked http:// telegram.me/jihadmedia01, saying that "some social media platforms blatantly supported the terror actions," he emphasized.
The websites that were blocked are bahrunaim.co, dawlahislamiyyah.wordpress.com, keabsahankhilafah.blogspot.co.id., khilafahdaulahislamiyyah.wordpress.com, tapaktimba.tumblr.com, thoriquna.wordpress.com, tauhiddjihat.blogspot.co.id, gurobahbersatu.blospot.co.id, bushro2.blogspot.co.id, mahabbatiloveislam.blogspot.co.id, and azzam.in.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
