Govt drafting bill on defense system

SEMARANG (JP): The government is drafting a law that will become the legal basis for people's participation in the national defense system, Minister of Defense and Security Edi Sudradjat said yesterday.

Edi said in a seminar on the national defense system that providing citizens with basic military training has strategic significance and therefore it needs a legal basis.

The law, he said, will provide the foundation and underlying philosophy of citizens' participation in the national defense system.

"It's expected that the law will give the people a complete picture on what their involvement in the defense system would mean," he said.

The seminar also featured law experts Yusril Ihza Mahendra from the University of Indonesia and Muladi and Satjipto Rahardjo from Semarang's Diponegoro University .

According to Edi, the bill will need to be socialized to erase doubts about the effectiveness of people's participation in the national defense system.

Edi said the government intends to make the future law as comprehensive as possible so it will not have to be revised only a few years after it is passed.

Yusril, an expert in constitutional law, said the law would hopefully help boost relations between the military and civilians.

Under the present political system, he argued, there is a misperception that the military is superior to civilians.

"It's high time that Indonesians became aware that defending the nation's unity is the responsibility of every citizen," he said.

Muladi, who is rector of Diponegoro University and a senior member of the National Commission on Human Rights, stressed the need for Indonesia to explain the law to the international community.

This information campaign will be important, he argued, to assure neighboring countries that Indonesia is not becoming a militaristic state.

He also proposed that the future law should be flexible about punishment for those who fail to take part in basic military training for whatever reason.

"They should be given alternatives, paying a fine or performing community service for a certain period of time," he said. (har/amd)