What now? Why now?<\/p>\n
With blood from the Black Friday tragedy not yet even dry, the
\nArmed Forces (ABRI) has announced that it plans to forge ahead
\nand recruit tens of thousands of civilians to help maintain
\nsecurity in the country. Few people will question the legality of
\nthe plan since the government, under the 1982 law on national
\ndefense, is permitted to recruit civilians for the purpose of
\ndefending the country. But the bigger question regarding the plan
\nto create a civilian militia is \"Why now?\"<\/p>\n
Coming so soon after the disastrous deployment of bamboo
\nspear-wielding volunteers to \"secure\" the Special Session of the
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly, the timing of the announcement is
\nwholly inappropriate and insensitive to the victims of the
\ntragedy.<\/p>\n
Have we not learned anything from Black Friday? Have the
\nscenes of unarmed antigovernment protesters clashing with
\nsecurity personnel and bands of highly intimidating, untrained
\nparamilitary volunteers been forgotten already? Sixteen people
\ndied and hundreds more were injured, yet the tragedy and the
\ncontroversial decision to deploy volunteer civilian guards have
\nyet to be satisfactorily explained. So far, no one appears to
\nhave been made accountable for this sad and tragic affair.<\/p>\n
Like many recent initiatives proposed by the government of
\nPresident B.J. Habibie, the plan to create a civilian militia is
\nfar from satisfactory. It raises more questions than the
\ngovernment appears willing to answer and smacks of ulterior
\nmotives. A lack of transparency, it seems, is becoming the
\nhallmark of this government.<\/p>\n
The explanation given to the public is that the paramilitary
\nforce is needed because the military, including the police, do
\nnot have the manpower to guarantee security throughout this huge
\narchipelagic nation. This argument is acceptable if based on the
\nratio of police-to-population, but that does not explain why a
\ncivilian militia has to be formed now. If we have been \"under-
\npoliced\" for all this time, then on balance we appear to have
\nmanaged quite well.<\/p>\n
The clause on mobilization in the 1982 law is primarily
\nintended to counteract the possibility of foreign aggression, but
\nthat is definitely not what the military leadership fears at
\npresent. Although not explicitly stating so, they have implied
\nthat the threat comes from within the country. If the nation is
\nfacing a major threat, and the military would deign to share this
\nintelligence with the general public, then they would get all the
\nsupport they need for a civilian militia. Without this, it is
\ndifficult not to believe that the plan is simply a continuation
\nof last month's highly unpopular decision to deploy bands of
\nuntrained civilian guards on the streets of the capital. It was
\ndangerous then, and it will be dangerous in the future.<\/p>\n
The military has promised that volunteers will be trained and
\nsupervised by the military, but this is hardly comforting given
\nthe frequency with which even the cream of ABRI's soldiers have
\nbeen guilty of stepping out of line. More alarming still is that
\nmost of these errant troops -- among them those guilty of
\ncommitting atrocities in Aceh, abducting political activists and
\nshooting dead four Trisakti University students -- have not even
\nbeen punished for their actions.<\/p>\n
In the light of this, what guarantee do we have that a
\ncivilian militia will not be allowed to wreak havoc with
\nimpunity?<\/p>\n
The time when amateurs are needed to help the Armed Forces
\nuphold security in our nation has not yet come. Not now of all
\ntimes.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/what-now-why-now-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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