Legislators mixed on abolition of civilian guards

Legislators mixed on abolition of civilian guards

JAKARTA (JP): Mixed responses greeted on Wednesday the idea to
abolish civilian guards affiliated to political parties and mass
organizations.

Legislator Heri Akhmadi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) agreed that the civilian guards,
including those of his party, should be disbanded lest they
threaten the process of democracy.

"I personally agree with disbanding civilian guards since they
could be used to pressure people outside and inside their
organizations. It's not healthy for democracy," Heri told The
Jakarta Post.

The National Commission on Human Rights and several other non-
governmental organizations demanded the disbandment of civilian
guards following Saturday's attack by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Banser
guards on the Jawa Pos daily office in Surabaya over an erroneous
report.

Heri said he would suggest the House discuss the existence of
the civilian guards when it deliberates the review of the 1982
Law on National Defense. The deliberation is expected to begin
when the House is back in session next week.

"We will propose regulations of the civilian guards," said
Heri, who is also the secretary of PDI Perjuangan faction at the
People's Consultative Assembly.

He regretted and condemned Banser's move which caused the
daily to cancel its Sunday edition, but also criticized the daily
for lack of professionalism. In its coverage on alleged
corruption linked to NU leaders, the Jawa Pos quoted Tempo
magazine which later apologized for mistakenly naming an official
it believed was involved in graft.

Legislator Joko Susilo from the National Mandate Party (PAN)
rejected any plan to disband civilian guards, but suggested that
the guards stop wearing military-style uniforms.

"Let each organization decide whether to have a civilian task
force. The guards will probably have to change their military-
style outfits to a civilian uniform," said Joko, who is also an
executive of Pemuda Muhammadiyah, a youth wing of the country's
second biggest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah.

He said Muhammadiyah would deploy its civilian guards, known
as Kokam, during its congress here in July. There are between
150,000 and 250,000 people in Kokam.

Without revealing the purpose of the deployment, Joko said
Kokam members would continue to wear their military-style
uniforms while on duty.

Joko said he would suggest the House summon Banser's East Java
leaders over the Jawa Pos incident.

"Their actions violated the basic right to information and
freedom of the press," the member of the House Commission for
security and political affairs said.

Separately, vice coordinator of the Commission for Missing
Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Ikravany Hilman, urged
on Wednesday political parties and organizations to dismiss their
militant civilian guards.

"They just hamper the nation's efforts to carry out reform and
democratization," he told a media briefing at the commission's
headquarters.

"The government should look into the necessity of such
military-like groups and their existence."

Meanwhile, NU's youth wing organization Ansor, which oversees
Banser, regretted what it called disinformation which stated that
NU followers caused the Jawa Pos to cancel publication on Sunday.

"It's the daily which stopped the edition. NU wanted the daily
to run its Sunday edition and print an apology," Ansor said in a
statement, a copy of which was made available to the Post.

Ansor alleged that over the last two years the Jawa Pos had
published at least three inaccurate reports which had offended
the largest Muslim organization.

It said the organization had repeatedly asked for an apology,
but instead the daily continued to publish reports that
discredited NU leaders. (01/jun)