A graceful exit

The Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police will formally bow out of legislative politics beginning in 2004. This crucial commitment was made on very discreet terms during the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which ended on Sunday. So discreet and subtle was the move that it escaped the attention of most people, even the media, who were more concerned about the overall constitutional amendment process.

It was not until the facts were spelled out by MPR Speaker Amien Rais when he closed the session that news of the military's departure from legislative politics really began to sink in. Even so, many people remain skeptical about whether this is really going to happen.

Prior to this development, the consensus based on a 1999 decree was that the TNI and the National Police would forfeit their seats in the House of Representatives by 2004, but would retain their nonelected seats in the MPR until at least 2009. None of the MPR political factions, at least until Sunday, had ever mentioned anything about moving forward by five years the schedule of the military's departure.

Can it really be true that the military, which has been part and parcel of the ruling regime and which has enjoyed proportionally larger than deserved political representation for more than four decades, will leave the political arena just like that? This seems totally out of character for the TNI, which still has tremendous political clout, to give up its political privileges without putting up much of a fight.

Admittedly, the military's departure from the nation's formal political structures was more a consequence of the amendment of the 1945 Constitution instituted by the MPR last week, rather than a conscious effort to push the armed forces out of politics. This probably explains the little publicity and fuss surrounding the issue. Earlier, there had been plans to insert a transitional clause in the 1945 Constitution which would accommodate the TNI's presence in the MPR until 2009. But this was quietly dropped.

The spirit of the constitutional amendment process was that beginning in 2004 all political representatives must be elected, whether they sit in the House of Representatives, the lower-level regional legislative councils or the newly established Regional Representatives Council. After the 2004 elections, there will be no more automatic seats allocated to nonelected representatives. This rule affects the TNI/National Police, as well as the interest groups that has a faction of their own in the MPR.

But while the interest groups put up a big fight to stay on in the MPR, the TNI/National Police faction did not so much as lift a finger as the MPR discussed amending this part of the Constitution.

One can only speculate about the way in which the TNI is bowing out of politics. Perhaps, it would have been a futile exercise for the TNI to have put up a fight when it was clear that the majority opinion was for the military to end its political privileges. Perhaps, this was a sign of the genuine desire on the part of the TNI to reform itself.

Whatever the real reason behind the TNI's planned departure, if the military really leaves the political arena in 2004 it will truly be a graceful exit, because the military will have acted in the best interests of the nation.

But even if TNI is no longer represented in the formal political structures, we should not completely rule it out of politics. TNI still is and will continue to be the most disciplined and organized political entity in the country for many years to come. And the TNI is bound to use this clout in securing its interests.

The coming years will show whether the TNI really can forsake its own narrow political interests and subordinate itself to civilian rule. We know for certain that politically, our good old TNI never dies, but let's hope that it does fade away.

Even if it is not represented in the legislature, the TNI will still be able to exert its influence over the MPR, probably even more effectively than when it was part of the body. Even after its departure in 2004, it will be some time before the TNI fully recognizes or accepts civilian supremacy and civilian rule. In short, it will take time and much more effort before we see TNI become a fully non-politicized professional force.

The government, including the MPR, can and must help in making both the TNI and the National Police more professional.

We must allocate a decent budget for our defense forces, certainly a larger sum than we are providing them today. That, however, will require an equally great effort on the part of the TNI and the National Police to end their reliance on nonstate funds that are not subject to proper auditing; particularly funds from military-controlled businesses and foundations.

It is still some two years before the military and police formally quit the political arena. But we would be giving them both a proper send-off in 2004 if we can ensure that our TNI and National Police are accorded respectable budgets by then.