Demands to reinstate military command remains: Researcher
Demands to reinstate military command remains: Researcher
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Civilians who adopt a militaristic culture pose a dangerous
threat to democracy in the country as they could encourage the
military to abandon its reform process, a researcher says.
J. Kristiadi of the Center for Strategic and International
Studies told a seminar on Tuesday the threat had become evident
with the fact that some civilian regional governments had
requested the Indonesian Military (TNI) install regional military
commands amid public demands to phase out of TNI's territorial
function.
"The phenomenon suggests that the civilians' military instinct
still exists, despite the democratic reform era. It seems, the
danger for democracy even comes from the civilians themselves,"
Kristiadi said at the seminar titled "Hate and Longing: the Trend
of Military Politics after the Reform Era".
The requests, he added, proved that civilians in the regions
lacked an understanding that law enforcement and domestic
security were not part of the TNI's duties to date.
Those regional governments include the Gorontalo provincial
government, and several regencies in Kalimantan and East Nusa
Tenggara.
Kristiadi said the reasons to invite military were wide
ranging, from fear of foreign insurgency to domestic security
reasons, such as communal violence.
The reform movement launched in 1998 constituted a new
paradigm that restricted the military role to national defense
and gave the authority to maintain domestic security to the
National Police.
TNI will completely lose its political role in 2009 when no
seat in the People's Consultative Assembly will be reserved for
the military. TNI will lose it seats in the House of
Representatives beginning in 2004.
Kristiadi said the civilian's military instinct could be
dangerous since it might tempt the military back to politics.
"(Should the reinstatement come true) the regional governments
could build an alliance with and finally use the military command
to crush parties which are considered to be damaging security in
the areas," said Kristiadi.
The fear is justified as it is widely known that the TNI have
committed atrocities against pro-democracy activists in the past.
The militaristic culture of the civilians could also be easily
found in the life of political parties.
The political parties, including major parties like PDI
Perjuangan and the United Development Party, have set up their
own military-style security guards.
"It is a challenge for the civilians to deal with their
natural militaristic culture, in a bid to live up to democracy,"
he said.