Military-police clash

Military-police clash

The separation in 1999 of the police from the Indonesian Defense Force (TNI), previously known as the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), was one of the fruits of the reform government.

The reform, of course, has a far-reaching objective, which is to create a democratic nation by restructuring the Indonesian Armed Forces.

In the spirit of reform, the People's Consultative Assembly issued MPR Decree No VI/2000 and MPR Decree No VII/2000.

The first decree stated that the police should be separated from the TNI, and the second one stated that the police and the TNI have to be neutral and should never get themselves involved in practical politics.

Since then however, there have been clashes between the police and TNI in several areas in the country.

Seven people were killed in a nine-hour shootout in September 2002 between the army and the police in the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, while a soldier and a policemen were injured in a similar incident in South Sulawesi last Dec 4.

The latest gun battle between troops and police, in which a soldier was shot dead and two people were wounded, was sparked by a traffic accident in the town of Mempawah in West Kalimantan province on Tuesday.

Is there any relation between the conflicts and the MPR decrees?

The answer is, not on the level of political decision but merely in the field.

In the field, the police is more independent from the TNI and more superior, while the power of the TNI is declining.

The decline and the increase in power of civilians are regarded to be the source of the conflicts between the police and the TNI.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta