Lawmakers back revisions to MPR decrees on defense

Lawmakers back revisions to MPR decrees on defense

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The military's attempt to revise Decrees No. 6/2000 and No.
7/2000 of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's
highest legislative body, has received strong backing from
members of the House of Representatives (DPR).

MPR Decree No. 6/2000 establishes the National Police and the
Indonesian military (TNI) as two separate entities, while Decree
No. 7/2000 relegates TNI to the role of national defense only.

During the 32 years of rule under former president Soeharto,
TNI was also responsible for domestic peace and order, which
allowed the institution, especially the Army, to play a dominant
role in the country.

TNI recently launched a white paper on national defense which
highlights the polemic on the distinction between security and
defense, wherein security falls under the jurisdiction of the
police, while defense falls under military jurisdiction.

The white paper calls for the scrapping of the distinction and
allowing the military to participate actively in bringing about
peace and order in the country, where religious and ethnic
conflicts have become the norm.

Legislators Sutradara Gintings and Djoko Susilo said on Friday
that the implementation of the decrees had so far caused only
confusion between TNI and the police.

"The two decrees were oversimplified because the people are
still traumatized by military involvement in issues that should
be the responsibility of civilian leaders," Gintings said.

Djoko said the distinction between security and defense should
not be seen as a distinction of jurisdiction, in which the first
belonged to domestic affairs while the latter referred to foreign
threats, as the oversimplification would affect both the police
and the military when they carried out their duties on the field.

"The division of roles between the police and military should
be based on the kind of threat itself. If the threat deals with
law and order, then the police should be the front line, even if
such threats come from outside the country. Once the country
faces armed threats, be it an armed separatist movement or a
foreign invasion, then we must order the military to handle it,"
Djoko told The Jakarta Post by telephone.

Meanwhile, military analyst Salim Said said the revisions
should focus on the positions of the military chief and the
police chief, in line with the country's administrative system.

"Should we insist on putting the military and the police in
their places, TNI should be placed under the Ministry of Defense,
while the police should be under the (as yet non-existent)
Ministry of Police. These two ministries, along with the
president, will make policies in regards the functions of these
two institutions. Thus, the military and the police just need to
obey and follow," Salim told the Post.