Bill helps to maintain military impunity

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives has proposed a bill to revise Law No. 31/1997 on military tribunals, but efforts to do away with impunity for soldiers has many obstacles as the draft fails to specify offenses that requires soldiers to stand trial in a civilian court.

Article 9 of the bill spells out the authority of the military tribunals, which hear criminal cases involving soldiers or those considered to be soldiers.

The appendix of the bill says that military offenses are classified as all violations perpetrated by servicemen.

In accordance with judicial reforms, the Supreme Court has introduced a new system, which requires military personnel charged with violating the Criminal Code to stand trial at a district court. The proposed reforms followed People's Consultative Assembly Decree No. VII/2000 on the roles of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police.

Article 3 paragraph 4 of the decree says that soldiers are subject to trial at the military tribunal for violations of the Military Law, and the public court for violations of the Criminal Code.

While the police force has complied with the MPR decree, the TNI has refused.

One of the lawmakers who sponsored the draft, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, said the bill did not categorize which crimes could send soldiers to military court or civilian court, for fear that "the more crimes that are listed, the more legal loopholes may appear."

But Lukman of the United Development Party (PPP) said the bill was not yet final. "We welcome more suggestions," he added.

Lukman denied allegations that the bill was a setback for the ongoing attempt to reform the military, saying the draft suggests that soldiers be tried in the ad hoc human rights court for allegedly perpetrating institutional crimes.

"A soldier who allegedly commits a crime in his capacity as a serviceman must face the rights tribunal if there are indications that he or she was merely following an order. To determine that, however, requires more investigation," Lukman said.

Debate has been rife for decades over military personnel who are court-martialled. Such trials have been largely used as attempts to protect, instead of punish, the soldier, thereby keeping the military's impunity intact due to a lack of public access to the trial.

The chain-of-command issue has often been a stumbling block for investigations into active or retired military officers accused of corruption or gross human rights violations.

Hari T. Prihantono of the ProPatria think tank, which campaigns for military reform, said that while the TNI had acknowledged the supremacy of the Criminal Code following the endorsement of the TNI law last year, no actual changes had been made, and the military tribunal law remains unchanged.