Military back into politics: Analysts<\/p>\n
Aan Suryana and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government's decision to reestablish the military command
\nin Aceh and internal conflicts in nearly all major political
\nparties would do harm to efforts to end the military's role in
\npolitics, military observers warned on Friday.<\/p>\n
The decision on the military command's reestablishment
\nexemplifies the revival of the military in the political arena,
\nwhile internal conflicts within the parties endanger civilian
\nsupremacy in politics because it creates the image that civilians
\nare incompetent.<\/p>\n
Hermawan Sulistyo of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
\n(LIPI) lashed out at the decision on the military command
\nreestablishment, saying that \"it would only revive old social
\nwounds.\"<\/p>\n
The government insisted on announcing the decision on Thursday
\ndespite objections from the Acehnese and human rights
\ncampaigners.<\/p>\n
\"The decision will only revive past bitter experiences in
\nwhich the Acehnese were gripped by fears about insecurity for
\nyears,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for Strategic and International
\nStudies (CSIS) said the reestablishment of a military command in
\nAceh was a sensible indication that they might have been
\npreparing to come back to conquer the country's politics.<\/p>\n
He further said the internal conflicts within the parties also
\nmade the politicians busy with their own interests, thereby
\nforgetting to further encourage strong civilian institutions.<\/p>\n
\"Their busyness can be seen from the current internal
\nconflicts at Golkar, the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the
\nUnited Development Party (PPP),\" Kusnanto said.<\/p>\n
Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, another observer of LIPI, urged the
\npolitical parties to settle their internal conflicts by
\nthemselves.<\/p>\n
\"This is important to avoid any possible intervention from
\noutsiders, including the military, which might manipulate the
\nconflicts for their own interests,\" Ikrar told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
This will only add credence to the perception that the
\nmilitary is better than civilians.<\/p>\n
After years of privilege under Soeharto's rule, the military's
\nrole in politics has faded away since 1998. Freedom of speech,
\nwhich began to flourish in that year, has stepped up
\nintellectuals' pressure for the military to gradually leave the
\npolitical stage.<\/p>\n
The military finally relinquished their grip on the police
\nforce in April 1999, when the police force was separated from the
\nmilitary. The number of military seats in the People's
\nConsultative Assembly was reduced from 75 to only 38 seats, and
\nthey will no longer have any seats at all by the year 2009.<\/p>\n
Kusnanto said that the civilians, including political parties,
\nhad to be able to create, establish and use strong democratic
\ninstitutions to prevent the military from coming back to
\npolitics.<\/p>\n
Also, the civilians should have \"the consciousness to rule.\"<\/p>\n
\"The legislators in the House of Representatives should be
\nmore active to oversee and to investigate military activities,
\nincluding business and human rights activities, to improve
\ntransparency within the military,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Ikrar said this situation was harmful for the development of
\ndemocracy as the public would question the ability of civilians
\nto rule and to maintain stability in the country.<\/p>\n
This would be more dangerous to democracy if the public then
\nlooked to the military whom they regarded as being capable of
\nmaintaining political stability in the country in the past, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Both Ikrar and Kusnanto said politicians should avoid parties'
\ninternal conflicts and work together to build strong democratic
\ninstitutions.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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