Draft military bill may give more might to TNI

Draft military bill may give more might to TNI

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has been preparing a controversial bill giving
authority to the Indonesian military commander to deploy military
personnel in an emergency without the approval of the president.

Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a military observer from the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences (LIPI), confirmed on Sunday that he was
included in the government team to jointly prepare the bill with
several teams from the Indonesian Military (TNI) Headquarters,
Army, Navy and Air Force.

Ikrar said the teams had worked for almost a year but the bill
had not been completed yet. Koesnanto Anggoro, a military analyst
from the Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) who
was also included in the government team, declined to comment on
the slow preparation of the bill.

But, reliable sources told The Jakarta Post that the joint
teams' slow work was due to friction among team members over
contentious issues in the bill. They were referring to Chapter 7
on the Army and Chapter 19 on the TNI commander's authority to
deploy personnel in an emergency situation without approval from
the president.

According to the sources, the Army has pulled out pro-reform
soldiers from its team and replaced them with those who have an
agenda to strive to project a more conservative role of the
military in the bill.

They also said that the government team was on the brink of
breakdown because the Army was determined to give a leading role
to the military and more authority to the TNI commander and not
to the defense minister nor the president in his or her capacity
as the TNI supreme commander.

Ikrar warned against a powerful Army and possible abuse of
power by a TNI commander if the contentious issues are not
reviewed by the House of Representatives (read: the civilian).

He said the military's internal reform would be under threat
if Chapter 7 was maintained because it stipulates the current
military doctrine and operational strategy based on its
territorial function.

The Army had abused its territorial function to keep its grip
in politics during the 32-year New Order regime.

Ikrar also said a TNI commander could abuse his power or do
something unlawful if he was allowed to deploy personnel in an
emergency situation without any approval from the president.

"This article which gives authority to the TNI chief to deploy
troops immediately prior to the president's approval is very
hazardous because the TNI chief is also allowed to impose an
emergency status on strife-torn regions," he said, adding that it
was against the 1959 emergency law.

The amended Constitution stipulates that the president in his
or her capacity as supreme commander of TNI has the authority to
declare a state of emergency in conflict-torn regions after
gaining approval from the House of Representatives.

"What will happen if the military deploys its troops to launch
a coup against the legitimate government for the same reason?,"
he asked rhetorically.

The controversial issues in the military bill has been linked
to the gathering of Army officials and retired generals in the
Army Headquarters last week.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu who hosted the rare
gathering disclosed a controversial demand for a possible return
to the Army's former function of upholders of security besides
the current defense function.

Ikrar said the military should no longer be given the
opportunity to intervene in security affairs or politics and
territorial affairs in order to allow them to be more
professional in their function of defending the nation.

"Listen to Ryamizard's statement, we can see that the
separation between the Police and the TNI has not brought about
reformation within the two institutions. And it is not only the
TNI that is moving slowly in reform, because the police
themselves are currently promoting militarism within their own
institution," he said.