Babinsa 'crucial' to help stamp out terrorists

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The role of the Babinsa, non-commissioned officers assigned to villages, is again in the spotlight, following the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief's suggestion they be reinstated to fight terrorism.

On Wednesday, just four days after last Saturday's bombings in Bali killed at least 21 people, Gen. Endriartono Soetarto suggested the TNI reinstate it's territorial command, including the Babinsa, to help the National Police track down the terrorists.

TNI Spokesman Maj. Gen. Tohirin Sugarda said the military was drawing up an implementation plan to allow TNI personnel nationwide to assist police.

While the details over the plan are still sketchy, military officers in the field have voiced support for the strengthening of the Babinsa.

Assigned down to the village level, the Babinsa were once the vanguard of the TNI's territorial command, living side-by-side with the local community, and monitoring and reporting suspicious residents to the intelligence authorities.

But, the role of Babinsa was curtailed after the reform of the TNI began in 1999. When the military was separated from the police in that year, many of the roles of military intelligence and community policing were given to police personnel. The Babinsa's duties were then confined to collecting strategic intelligence data.

"The territorial command, including the Babinsa is still there, but the Babinsa's role is now limited. They are no longer involved in social and political activities, and now their duties are largely confined to administrative ones, such as recording population data in certain subdistricts, how many boats local fishermen posses and other related social, economic and intelligence data," Gen. Tohirin told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The limited, some say dormant, role of the Babinsa is compounded by the lack of personnel and poor equipment on the ground. A senior military officer in Lampung, Lt. Col. Dadi, said there were only around 800 Babinsa operatives still working in Lampung province, while the ideal number should be about 2,000.

Many Babinsa lacked motorcycles or walkie-talkies, making their use to the military limited, said Dadi, the chief of territorial section at the Garuda Hitam Military Command in Lampung province.

Meanwhile, although the TNI have long argued that the role of the Babinsa was instrumental in the fight against terror, however, NGO activists and House of Representatives legislators have reiterated that any reactivation of the territorial command should be rejected. The measure would only increase abuses of locals, especially striking factory workers, and could cause further violations of human rights, said Attoillah, an executive with the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute.

With additional reporting of Oyos Saroso in Bandarlampung, Indra Harsaputra in Surabaya and Suherjoko in Semarang