Get smart, please, use the cell phone!

Endy M. Bayuni, Deputy Chief Editor, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

This telephone conversation takes place sometime in 2008 between the chief of staff (CS) of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the president.

It's just past 1 a.m. in Jakarta where the CS is, and 5 a.m. in Melbourne, Australia, where the president is on a working visit.

President: Hello. What's up, marshal?

CS: Sorry to have to wake you this early, Mrs. President.

President: That's okay. I was already up. What is it?

CS: We have a crisis situation developing along the Sulawesi border.

President: Go on.

CS: The rebels have attacked us. They came from the other side of the border. They are well armed and they have killed ...

President: Skip the details. What are you going to do about it?

CS: I need your authorization to deploy two battalions of Kostrad and use F16 fighters to bomb the enemy's positions.

President: You have my permission. Do whatever you have to.

CS: Yes, sir, sorry, Ma'am. Thank you, Mrs. President.

President: (mumble, unintelligible)

CS: Begging your pardon, Mrs. President. What did you say?

President: No, I was talking to my husband. He just got up and wants to know what's for breakfast. Will that be all?

CS: I need the authorization in writing, Mrs. President.

President: Roy (the State Secretary) will fax it to you in half an hour. Goodbye.

With that two-minute conversation, the president and the chief of the TNI jointly handled a crisis situation efficiently, effectively and, most importantly of all, constitutionally and legitimately. The nation was saved from a grave threat to the integrity of the unitary state.

All of this was made possible because of a simple gadget called the handphone, or HP for short, the popular Indonesian term for the cellular phone.

And of course, given their respective positions and responsibility for the safety of the country, the marshal has a 24-hour hot line to the president. That is, he has one of those HP numbers belonging to the president that only a handful of people in the country knows.

Needless to say, the line is secured.

The CS was acting in the spirit of Article 19 of the 2003 law on the military, which outlines its function and authority in its capacity as a defense force.

The article essentially states that in times of emergency that threaten the territorial integrity of the republic, the chief of staff has the authority to deploy troops, after consulting with the president, as the supreme commander of the military, through the use of the special hot line, or the handphone.

Where would Indonesia be without that law, without the TNI, the guardians of the state?

Credit must go to someone back in 2003 who had the foresight to insert that particular article, which is very clear and specific, and not open to interpretations.

Of course, the people's memory is short.

Little do the people in 2008 remember that this particular article came about after a heated debate among politicians, experts and TNI thinkers five years earlier.

The original version of the bill, when it was submitted to the House of Representatives, read something like, "In times of emergency that threaten the unitary state, the military chief has the authority to deploy troops as he sees fit, and only inform the president 24 hours later."

Many civilian leaders got up in arms to oppose the article, which gave unlimited power to the TNI chief, fearing that it could be abused, even used as a pretext to launch a legitimate coup against the government.

Looking back in 2008, we can all laugh at such grossly excessive fears. Why would the TNI launch a coup against a legitimate government? It's unthinkable.

One might even find, if they looked through old news clipping, the TNI chief at the time, Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, being quoted as quipping: "I'm not that smart."

Apparently, civilians at the time feared the return of the military to the political arena, and viewed such a proposal with apprehension. Apparently, the military was very powerful for more than three decades before 1998.

Those who supported the article justly argued that the military chief must be empowered to deal with a crisis situation. In times of emergency, he has to make snap decisions and has no times to consult with the president.

Thankfully, someone, during the debate of the article, shouted out: "What about the handphone?"

People stopped arguing, and shouted back: "Yes, what about the handphone?"

"Well, what about giving both the TNI chief and the president a handphone, and setting up a special hot line for them so that they can always consult with one another, particularly in times of crisis."

In this way, the president, in her capacity as the supreme military commander, remains the real boss. All major troop deployments can only take place with her approval. There will be no more arguments about the possibility of the TNI chief subverting the power of the president, or even talk of a legitimate coup.

Civilian supremacy, the bedrock of democracy, remains intact, and the nation and its territorial integrity are in safe hands. Certainly, safe enough for the president to travel to Australia.

Just keep the line open at all times, Ma'am.