Don't worry about 'civilian militias'

MAGELANG, Central Java (JP): Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Feisal Tanjung dismissed on Thursday concerns over the government plan to create an armed civilian militia.

Feisal, however, failed to give a clear answer to suggestions that trained armed civilians might be prone to act irresponsibly.

"It would not be a problem if they (the civilian militia) are armed," Feisal said.

Feisal was in Magelang on Thursday along with 69 other generals to attend the official ceremony to mark their retirement from the Armed Forces at the military academy here.

Feisal also confirmed the government planned to recruit civilians to back up security forces during the coming election next June.

He said the recruitment of civilians would be co-organized by the defense ministry and the National Police.

"The technical matters will be handled by the police. They will train these civilians," Feisal said.

He said the government would recruit about 40,000 people in the first phase.

"The security forces would not be able to handle the situation as there are thousands of islands here and the ratio between the security forces and the people are far from ideal," Feisal said adding that the ratio at present was 1:1,200.

The ideal ratio, he said, was 1:350.

Feisal said the recruitment was based on the 1982 law on defense and security which justifies the involvement of civilians in defense and security.

Earlier, Moslem leader Abdurrahman Wahid asked Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto in Jakarta about reports that the Armed Forces (ABRI) planned to form civilian militia. In their meeting on Wednesday, he also expressed his concern that those who were against moderate groups in society would take advantage of the plan.

Wiranto confirmed the plan to establish an unarmed civilian militia, pointing out the police were understaffed to handle the country's 203 million people. Ideally, an additional 70,000 unarmed but uniformed security personnel were needed, he said.

However, he allayed Abdurrahman's concern by saying the militia would not be trained by those who are against the moderate as Abdurrahman put it.

Former vice president Try Sutrisno, who was also present in Magelang on Thursday, backed the plan, saying that the civilian militia was needed to police the "unpredictable situation".

Wiranto faced sharp public criticism last month when the military mobilized 125,000 untrained civilians to help secure the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly.

In recent months Indonesia has been rocked by violent unrest, including clashes between troops and students, and religious and economic riots that have damaged scores of places of worship.

Abdurrahman, popularly known as Gus Dur, warned that the recent spate of violence in various cities, pitting religious and ethnic groups against one another, as well as violent student protests, were indications of a looming social revolution.

Prabowo

Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, the son-in-law of former president Soeharto discharged from the army for his role in the kidnapping and torture of activists, failed to turn up at the retirement ceremony.

Prabowo was honorably discharged by a presidential decree dated Nov. 20 following a decision by Wiranto in August.

The honorable discharge meant he would be retired prematurely.

Wiranto's decision was taken after a military council concluded Prabowo was involved in the abduction and torture of several activists earlier in the year.

Other senior officers who were retirement included Minister of Home Affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, the secretary-general of the defense ministry, Lt. Gen. Soeyono, and former ABRI chief of general affairs Lt. Gen. Tarub. (44/byg)