Experts disagree on how to disband militia groups

Sri Wahyuni and Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Experts are at one over the idea to disband paramilitary groups in the country but are at odds on the mechanism that should be used to dissolve these groups, which often assume the roles of defense and security forces.

University of Indonesia law lecturer Harkristuti Harkrisnowo said last week the National Police must act to disband such groups and convince the public that security affairs is their domain.

Harkristuti referred to Law No. 2/2002 on the National Police, which states that the police serve functions such as enforcing the law, maintaining security and order as well as serving the public.

A decree issued by the national police chief would be sufficient to disband the civilian groups, she added.

"My question then is, are the police willing to assert their role and issue the decree? The consequences for those who ignore or deny the decree should also be made clear, to justify legal measures against them," Harkristuti said.

"It's urgent (for the police) to issue the decree because of the upcoming political party campaigns in the runup to the 2004 general election. The police must prepare measures to prevent possible outbreaks of violence caused by these paramilitary groups," she said.

Almost all political parties in the country have their own security units, locally called satgas (task forces). Party members always claim that the units serve internal/protocol functions to safeguard events held by the parties.

Another expert said that the government did not need a new law or regulation to deal with paramilitary groups, providing that the police applied the so-termed discretion policy in dealing with the matter.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post here last week, law expert Bambang Purnomo of Gadjah Mada University said the international consensus on order and security recognizes the use of the discretion policy by the police to deal with problems related to order and security in the community.

"The discretion policy acknowledges the police's right to act beyond the law to maintain order and security in the community," Bambang said.

Giving an assurance that the discretion policy was universally applicable, Bambang said that in a fire incident, for example, the police could build a road block without prior warning, despite the absence of a regulation on the matter.

The same policy was also applied when the police set up a blockade to prevent protesters from entering, for example, the House of Representatives, for the sake of maintaining order and security.

"In both cases, you cannot question which law allows the police to do so. It's a discretionary policy," he said.

The police, in this case, could also apply the same policy to deal with paramilitary groups, including those affiliated to political parties or religious organizations, and turn them into non-military-style ones.

"The groups may continue to exist, but they have to abandon their military-style attributes and names," said Bambang, adding that in so doing the police would avoid being accused of violating the law on freedom to form organizations.

"Instead of using the name satgas (task force) or laskar (militia group), they could call themselves the committee of congress security or the election-winning committee," he said.

Earlier this month Indonesian Military Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto called for all military-style groups, including those affiliated to political parties and religious organizations, to disband.

The call has triggered a debate on whether the law on national defense could serve as a legal basis for the disbandment of paramilitary groups.

Bambang, however, said that although the law could be used to disband paramilitary groups it is not appropriate. He argued that the law could only be applied under circumstances such as when the state was under a military invasion or was the victim of aggression. He therefore suggested that the police use the discretionary policy to deal with the problem.

"There is no need to produce new laws whenever we're dealing with new problems like this. A discretionary policy will do," he said.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Ikrar Nusa Bhakti said to disband the militias the government could first issue a regulation while the law was being established.

Basically, all mass mobilization or demobilization efforts must be controlled by a law to prevent violations, he added.

Ikrar stressed that defense and security functions were the responsibility of the Indonesian Military and the National Police.

The paramilitary groups, said Ikrar, were born out of "a miscalculation by the military and the police, who initially believed that the groups were part of active public participation in maintaining security and order."

The Indonesian Military and Police always said the militia groups, under their supervision, could be used as a kekuatan bela negara -- national defense force.

However, some of the groups have instead undermined national security, as demonstrated by the Papuan Task Force in Papua and the Red-and-White Task Force (in East Timor), Ikrar said.

"They have backfired on the founders and financial backers."

Active public participation is allowed in emergency situations as defined in Law No. 20/1982 on Points of Defense and Security. However, it must be in the form of wajib militer or military conscription, Ikrar said.

"TNI always says it cannot afford the program that is carried out in Singapore, Israel and Malaysia as well," he said.

Ikrar stressed that limited resources and personnel should not be made an excuse by either TNI or the police to permit any civilian groups to assume their security or defense roles.

However, security supporting units, like satpam (security guards) or hansip(civilian guards), are often misquoted as paramilitary groups. Under police law, such groups are allowed to exist because they are still under police control and work in limited areas with clear, specific functions.

Satpam are usually set up by companies and tasked to safeguard the company's compound and assets. The members are trained by the police and allowed to use a baton as their weapon.

Hansip are a smaller security unit, which is tasked with safeguarding residential areas and is subordinate to the local district or subdistrict administration.