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Indonesians
Fear Increased Military Role in Politics
by Fabio Scarpello
JAKARTA - While the Indonesian military,or TNI,
for the first time will not
hold any seats in the new House of Representatives, Indonesian
legislators,
however, with only hours remaining in their mandate approved
a controversial
new law cementing the TNI's political power.
A bill aimed at redefining the role of the Indonesian military
was approved
last Thursday by the pro-TNI House of Representatives in
the dying hours of
its five-year mandate that ends on Oct. 30.
The final draft, although presenting a watered-down version
of some of the
most controversial articles, rephrased but preserved the
Indonesian
military's territorial role – what most consider as
being the heart and soul
of the TNI's political influence in the country.
It also failed to bring the TNI under the control of the
civilian-run
Defense Ministry and left it under the sole command of the
president, who
can call upon the military's intervention in case of unspecified
emergency
without House approval. The legislative body's approval
is needed only after
two days of the military intervention.
Furthermore, the bill granted the TNI wider and unspecified
powers to fight
terrorism and the authority to deploy troops before seeking
permission from
any institution. It also allowed military officers to take
up civilian
positions, although it limited them to jobs that require
military skills.
Military officers in such positions will be answerable to
the TNI commander
rather than the government – in essence a parallel
administration.
Nonetheless, the new legislation did have wording that essentially
seeks to
curtail the TNI's business empire and put it under the scrutiny
of the
government.
The bill, aimed at defining the role of the military after
the downfall of
former dictator Gen. Suharto in 1998, was seen as a compromise
between the
demands of rights groups who want the military under total
civilian control
and those generals keen to keep their privileges.
During his 32-year-reign, Suharto used the military to quell
any government
opposition and granted serving officers key government and
legislative
posts.
"The passage of the TNI bill is a step backward that
totally undermines
civilian control of the military and allows the TNI to reassert
its
political role," said John M. Miller, media coordinator
of the U.S.-based
East Timor Action Network.
Solahuddin Wahid, former deputy chairman of Indonesian National
Commission
on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) agreed in principle that the
TNI's presence in
society was too pervasive, but said that there was no current
real
alternative to it.
"The circumstances are not as good as we had hoped
after the reformasi
[reformation after Suharto], and society is not ready to
take over all the
roles covered by the TNI," he told IPS.
But he added that although the TNI should step back, it
might take 10 years
before the country is ready to relinquish the military's
territorial role.
The bill enshrined the TNI's territorial role in the constitution
and
justified the deployment of "auxiliary" troops
on the basis of defending the
country against internal and external threats.
The territorial role, which allows for the presence of troops
across the
archipelago right down to the district and village levels,
was the device
used by Suharto to maintain complete control of the country.
Nowadays, it is the main tool used by the TNI to collude
and interfere with
local bureaucrats, businesspeople and politicians.
However, according to well-known reformist Lt. Gen. (ret.)
Agus Widjojo, the
new law provided a defense against possible TNI abuses.
"In the past, the TNI had the authority to intervene
and mobilize civilian
resources, but that is not the case anymore," he said,
adding that now it is
a matter of supervising things to make sure it does not
happen anymore.
Yet the defense provided by the law did not convince Aguswandi,
the head of
research and advocacy of the Indonesian Human Rights Campaign
(TAPOL).
Aguswandi said in an interview he believed that there could
not be any real
reform of the Indonesian military as long as it maintained
its territorial
role.
He stressed that such a huge presence was particularly detrimental
as
Indonesia was going through a decentralization process,
and the centers of
power were moving away from Jakarta to the regions.
"The TNI has adapted well to the new political situation.
It doesn't really
need to have seats in the parliament, or in the cabinet,
or in the central
power in Jakarta, because the actual power is now mainly
in the hands of
regencies, districts and provinces," he said.
What was universally seen as a progressive move was the
condition in the
bill that instructed the Indonesian military to open the
financial books on
its vast business empire and subject it to the scrutiny
of the government by
2009.
The TNI only receives 30 percent of its budget from the
government and the
balance is financed by various legal and illegal activities,
including
alleged extortion, illegal mining and logging, prostitution,
gambling and
the illegal trafficking of women, animals and drugs.
Most of these illegal activities are perpetrated in conflict
areas such as
Aceh, Papua and the Maluku Islands where the Indonesian
military has built
up a massive presence. Some believe the TNI purposefully
maintains a state
of instability to reap financial and political benefits.
The bill will come into effect in a month regardless of
whether the outgoing
president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, or the new president,
Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, signs it.
That said, Yudhoyono has stated an intention to look at
the bill and change
it, if he sees it to be against the constitution or the
military's
principles.
"Since it is my administration that will implement
it, I think I have to
study or even review the bill," The Jakarta Post quoted
him on Friday.
Yudhoyono, a former four-star general himself, has won the
presidential
election in a landslide and is due to take the reins of
the country on Oct.
20.
The victory of Yudhoyono is just one sign of the enduring
influence of the
TNI, which remains the country's most powerful institution
with deep
influences branching into the country's social and political
life.
Four out of the ten presidential and vice-presidential candidates
who
started out in the first round were former generals and,
significantly in
the various post-Suharto governments, officials with military
backgrounds
have held the all-important civilian positions of chief
minister of security
and interior minister.
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