ICG warns of private militia threats
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian government has no other choice but to disband the many civilian security and militia groups to prevent conflicts ahead of the 2004 elections, an international think tank group says.
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said in its latest report released over the weekend that the presence of civilian guards served to weaken the police's credibility and undermine the state as the final guarantor of security.
"The trick is to encourage the disbanding of these organizations without jeopardizing freedom of association," ICG Southeast Asia Project director Sidney Jones said in the group's report released following deadly clashes between such security units from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and the Golkar Party in Bali on Oct. 25 and 26, which claimed two lives.
She said it would help if police capability could be improved so people would no longer have to rely on such groups that have either ethnic, religious or political affiliations.
"These private security forces often exacerbate, rather than reduce, security problems, especially when they are linked to particular religious, ethnic or political groups," she stressed.
In its report entitled "The Perils of Private Security in Indonesia: Guards and Militias on Bali and Lombok", ICG focused on the guards and militias on those two islands, which it said had become "increasingly involved in extortion and violence to the detriment of legal and political reform in both provinces" in the past five years.
During the tenure of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, members of civilian guards apparently affiliated with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), formed a "death force" to fight the move to oust Abdurrahhan, who is a former NU chairman. Violence erupted in East Java ahead of Abdurrahman's dismissal in 2001, but did not escalate beyond a few minor skirmishes.
In Bali, the report said, the traditional guards, or pecalang have taken on, at times, a security role, most recently with the post-Oct. 12 atmosphere, they have been intimidating non-Balinese who have taken up residence. They have also been a police partner as well as having a political role as the protector of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairperson of PDI Perjuangan.
Bali has been known as one of the strongholds of her party.
While on Lombok, traditional religious leaders, or Tuan Guru, have their own private militias, which have turned into a protection force for political candidates.
"While their standing has ebbed and flowed, they are likely to gain in influence in the run up to the 2004 election as political parties rely on them to help with mass mobilization campaigns," the report said.
The government has either long turned a blind eye to, or overtly encouraged the establishment of civilian security units, which began to mushroom after the reform movement in 1998 and the fall of strongman Soeharto.
The shift of security authority from the military to the police also causes "the absence of order" in the country as the police are not yet ready to take on such a responsibility, ICG said.
Indonesia, a sprawling nation with around 210 million people, has about 200,000 police officers and 300,000 military personnel.
Citing the lack of police personnel and their limited capability to deal with various security problems during the reform era, Megawati, during the celebration of National Police Day on July 1, encouraged the establishment of civilian guards.
She said it was the constitutional right of the people, especially those living in conflict areas to defend themselves and their property.
However, the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that these groups of civilian guards should be disbanded as they were of no service to the country.
Following the clashes in Bali, Susilo renewed his calls for the civilian guards to be put in order.