Military rebuffs blame over rights violations

Military rebuffs blame over rights violations

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Military (TNI) maintained that it
should not be held directly or even solely responsible for
alleged human rights violations in the past as they may have been
committed under different political circumstances.

Newly appointed chief of TNI Territorial Affairs Lt. Gen. Agus
Wijaya said the repressive measures taken often had to do with
the nation's political condition at the time, especially during
former president Soeharto's tenure.

"You can't blame the military and the National Police as they
were operating under the rule of powerful presidents," he replied
when asked during a seminar on federalism organized by the
National Committee of Indonesian Youths (KNPI) here on Saturday.

KNPI delegations from Aceh and Irian Jaya taking part in the
seminar said the military was to blame for the rising threat of
disintegration as the unrest was a backlash caused by frustration
over the military's repressive measures.

Muzakhir Samidan, head of the KNPI chapter in Aceh, suggested
the discovery of mass graves in Aceh and East Timor was strong
evidence of the military's brutality in the past.

Agus, however, retorted that the political environment, in
particular the strong centralistic government system adopted by
presidents Sukarno and Soeharto, at that time should be taken
into account.

"During the era of the two former presidents, civilians were
very weak ... All decisions were absolutely in the hands of the
rulers," he said, noting that the prevailing political culture
also made it difficult to topple the two presidents.

He argued that the military was also used to uphold the status
quo for its own needs.

"The military was used by former president Soeharto as a tool
to maintain the status quo. TNI had been used to back the ruler
and a certain political party while both the people and the
political system were unable to make corrections," Agus said.

He said TNI was fully aware of wrongdoings in the past and
actually welcomed the reform era to develop a true democracy.

"TNI will be very glad if national problems can be solved in a
democratic manner without having the political garbage dumped
into the defense sector," he said, adding that to avoid further
conflict and the potential threat of disintegration, certain
parties should not point accusations at each other.

Disguise

Agus also denied allegations that the military was secretly
continuing its strong arm tactics by deploying combat troops in
Aceh disguised as Police Mobile Brigade members.

He claimed that TNI had faithfully carried out President
Abdurrahman Wahid's orders relating to all combat troops from the
restive province.

"All the 7,000 police officers who were recently sent to Aceh
are from the Mobile Brigade. TNI would never do such a thing," he
said of the allegations.

Asked whether the military was ready to accept the
establishment of a federal state in Indonesia in the future, Agus
defended the country's unitary state structure.

He said the essence of problems faced by several provinces,
including Aceh, Irian Jaya and East Kalimantan, was the unequal
share of profits from the exploration of natural resources in the
past and was not really a question of federalism.

"We want to ask whether such problems cannot be solved
peacefully through dialog so that corrections can be made. The
idea of federalism raises new problems for the nation," he
contended.(rms)