Antiterror chief supports TNI plan to curb terrorism

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.