Antiterror chief supports TNI plan to curb terrorism

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

A top antiterror official has voiced support for the Indonesian Military (TNI)'s controversial plan to reactivate its territorial function to help curb terrorism in the country, saying the policy would give military intelligence officers the ability to "infiltrate" communities where terrorist groups develop their networks.

Insp. Gen. (ret) Ansja'ad Mbai, the head of the antiterror desk at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, said terrorism was a well-planned crime that required everything from the recruitment and integration of members into local communities, to the purchase of bomb materials for attacks.

He said only the military had the technical know-how and the infrastructure to counter the extensive networks of terrorist groups.

"This is what we call a community-based intelligence system, and it allows the military's intelligence officers even to infiltrate the hard-liners in a bid to destroy their networks from the inside.

"Terrorism is an extraordinary crimes that requires extraordinary measures," Ansja'ad said at his office on Friday.

However, he refused to blame the National Police and the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) for failing to expand their intelligence networks to counter the terrorist threat. The law stipulates that fighting domestic terrorism is the domain of the police, while the military is focussed on dealing with external threats.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged the TNI to play an active role in the fight against terrorism after last weekend's Bali bombings, and TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said the military would reactivate its territorial command.

The essence of the territorial command is the sociopolitical role played by the military, which was abolished after the fall of former president Soeharto to prevent the kind of rights abuses and involvement in politics by the military that was seen during Soeharto's New Order regime.

According to military analyst Andi Widjayanto from the University of Indonesia, the idea of reviving the territorial function goes against the spirit of the military's internal reform, which is mandated by Article 11 of Law No. 34/2004 on the TNI.

He acknowledged that Article 11 did not specifically state that the military's territorial function could not be revived, but "reviving the territorial function clearly violates the spirit of the law".

But he said that if it was decided that reviving the territorial function was the only practical way to curb terrorism, the government would have to impose controls on the military to prevent it from abusing its powers.

He also suggested that the government restructure its antiterror desk, which is currently under the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, rather than reactivate the military's territorial function.

"The antiterror desk could be restructured to be an independent agency, and it is headed by a three-star police general. This agency would then be directly responsible to the president," Andi said.