Delay in military bill deliberation gets more support

Delay in military bill deliberation gets more support

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Representatives of major parties have jumped on the bandwagon to
call for a delay in the deliberation of the military bill, with
the party led by the President shifting the blame on Cabinet
members who they said pushed her into approving the government-
sponsored bill.

Megawati Soekarnoputri "had no choice" but to let the bill be
deliberated in the current term of the House of Representatives,
which ends in September, said Panda Nababan of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on Wednesday.

This was because she faced the "authoritarian" manner of,
among others, the coordinating minister of political and security
affairs as well as Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto, who pushed for the immediate submission of
the bill to the House, Panda said.

The minister referred to was not mentioned by name. However,
the bill presented to the House was drafted in June, while former
minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono resigned in March to run for
the presidency. His replacement is interim minister Hari Sabarno.

Therefore, Panda said, the PDI-P faction in the House "has
received a clear message from the President that we should not
set a deadline for September" to complete the deliberation. New
legislators will be installed in October.

Earlier, legislators said the bill must be completed
immediately as it was the last chance that they could get input
from colleagues in the police and military faction, who will not
be represented in the new House.

Panda was speaking at a discussion on the bill that also
featured rights activist Munir and former TNI chief of
territorial affairs Agus Widjojo.

Munir and Agus said the PDI-P could not lay the blame on
Cabinet members because the President could have just refused to
sign the draft. "It's harder for ministers to reject the wishes
of the President" than vice versa, Agus said.

The one-day talks were held by the Human Rights Training and
Education Institution (LPPHAM).

Among the contentious clauses in the bill are those that allow
military officers to occupy positions in state administrations
without retiring from the military. However, military sources say
they refer to a number of posts reserved for military personnel,
such as in the defense ministry.

On Monday, House Speaker and Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung also
asked House Commission I on security, defense and foreign affairs
not to rush deliberation of the bill, saying it might have an
adverse effect on soldiers' professionalism.

Former defense minister Mahfud MD, also deputy chairman of the
National Awakening Party (PKB), agreed that the bill needed
further public scrutiny.

He added that his party was completing its own version of the
military bill that focused on, among other things, soldiers'
welfare.

On Tuesday, religious youth groups joined the call of several
non-governmental organizations to leave the deliberation of the
military bill to the new legislators. The groups were the
Muhammadiyah Student Association (MMI), the Indonesian Christian
Students Movement (GMKI), the Association of Indonesian Hindu
Students (KMHDI), the Indonesian Nationalist Students Movement
(GMNI), the Nahdlatul Ulama Students Association (IPNU) and the
Buddhist Students Association (Hikmahbudhi).