Major changes in draft of defense, security law

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Ministry of Defense is drafting a new law to replace the existing defense law aimed at upgrading coordination between the defense and security functions of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police, and putting the two forces under the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.

Speaking on the sidelines of a hearing with legislators on Tuesday, Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono expected the draft to be submitted to the House of Representatives within two months.

"We're assessing the coordination and synchronization between the TNI and the police. The two should be under the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs because this office deals with both defense and security issues," he told reporters.

With centralized coordination, Juwono said the two forces would cooperate better in securing and defending the country, especially in combating activities such as human trafficking and illegal logging.

Currently, the TNI and the police are under the direct supervision of the President.

The two forces were once integrated under the name of Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), but were later separated in 1999.

Juwono's remark completely contradicted previous information made available by a team drafting revisions to laws on defense (No. 3/2002) and police (No. 32/2004), who said that the TNI and the police would be put under the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Home Affairs respectively.

Contacted for comment, a confused team member said Juwono's remark was likely to be incorrect.

The team member questioned the plan, saying the Ministry of Defense would have no authority at all if the TNI was put under the control of another ministry.

On the other hand, the team is currently in talks with the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the plan to put police under their authority.

It is believed that the National Police would strongly object to the plan because it would mean that a National Police chief would be positioned under a home affairs minister, who are mostly recruited from Army top brass.