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)