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).