Constitution amendment changes military's posture
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The constitutional changes that will force the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police out of the legislature in 2004 will bring several consequences to the Army-dominated military.
M. Riefqi Muna of The Ridep Institute told The Jakarta Post on Monday that creating a professional military would need several considerations, including recognizing Indonesian was a vast country.
"Empowering the Navy and the Air Force, instead of the Army, is a must, because both are needed to guard the country's borders," he said.
Riefqi said the increase in the military's budget would also force it to carry out its primary defense tasks.
"Forcing the military, as well as the police, out of day-to- day politics is the only way to get them to perform their basic roles in defense.
"But developing a professional military is costly because the military institution will need a bigger budget to improve soldiers' social welfare, purchase weaponry and conduct training programs," Riefqi said.
On Sunday, the People's Consultative Assembly agreed to the abolition of nonelected representatives from the military and the police.
Under the decision, servicemen will be able to vote and will be required to leave the service should they want to enter politics.
Ikrar Nusabakti of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) concurred, saying the military and police should exercise their political rights.
"I guess all people will have their first experience at the next general election. The civilians will firstly hold direct presidential election, while military and police will have the right to vote also. So, why do the military ask for privileges?," Ikrar asked.
Both the TNI and police have frequently expressed opposition to servicemen's voting rights, saying they need more time to get used to the concept of voting.
TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said it appreciated the Assembly's decision, but added it needed more time to get ready to exercise its new political rights.
He would not say when the TNI would be ready.
"We will leave our political aspirations to the House of Representatives and regional representatives," he said.
Sjafrie further urged the government to support the TNI's internal reforms to make it more professional so that "all efforts to bring professionalism to the military will succeed".
The government, along with the House, had earlier approved increasing the TNI/National Police's budget to Rp 10 trillion (US$11 billion) in 2003, up from Rp 9 trillion this year.
The military's dominant role in politics has been blamed for the slow growth of democracy in Indonesia and for the lack of strong leaders among civilians.