Military role in war on terror questioned

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Seeking the military's help to fight terrorism at home was a risky move that could worsen human rights and undermine the efforts to create mature civilian rule, experts have warned.

Against the background of subtle pressure from the United States for Indonesia to do more regarding its pledge to fight terrorism, a greater military role might not be the right answer, they said on Tuesday.

"We'll be just serving U.S. interests here as well as those of the military, which wants us to believe that by fighting terrorism they'll be forgiven for their human rights abuses," said Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association.

"What we're dealing mostly with here is state terrorism, and the military has been part of it."

On Monday, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said the Army's counterterrorism unit was being drafted in to help the police and the National Intelligence Agency (BNI) curb terrorist threats.

Since 2000, the police have been in charge of internal security affairs, leaving the military's counterterrorism unit inactive.

The unit, to which the Army's elite force Kopassus belongs, became infamous following a string of human rights violations.

Among the cases involving Kopassus was the 1998 kidnapping of political activists, many of whom are believed to have died.

"We have to define what terrorism means or else the military will label anybody they want to as a terrorist," Hendardi said.

Analyst Indria Samego of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) warned that the government relied too much on the military for work that should be the responsibility of the civilian authorities.

"It's as if the military can run this country better (than civilians)," Indria said.

The government should have also first assessed the terrorist threat before deciding to ask for the military's help, said Philip J. Vermonte of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

"If the police, BIN and the immigration office can cope with the threat, then there's no need for the military," Philip said, adding that an alternative could be to beef up the police and BIN's counterterrorist capabilities.

Moves to reactivate the TNI's counterterrorism unit came after U.S. intelligence warned of a terrorist threat in Jakarta that led to the U.S. Embassy closure last month.

Surprised by the move, government officials said they had not been informed of any threat beforehand.

The warning about a possible attack on the U.S. Embassy had come from Omar al-Faruq, an alleged terrorist caught in West Java last June who was turned over to the Americans, according to a Time magazine report.

When news of al-Faruq's arrest first surfaced in connection with the embassy closure, the initial government reaction was one of denial.

The National Police and the Indonesian Military have said al- Faruq did not exist. But according to media reports, the operation to arrest al-Faruq was led by Major Andika from Kopassus and the son-in-law of BIN chief Lt. Gen. (ret) AM Hendropriyono.

The police and the military then changed their stance, finally admitting they were aware of the arrest.

Military sources could not say who had ordered Andika to arrest al-Faruq.

Local officials have also thus far failed to quote U.S. officials in confirming the Time magazine and other media reports.

The only link between the reports and the official U.S. stance may be Karen Brook, a member of the White House National Security Council, who met President Megawati Soekarnoputri two weeks ago in Jakarta.

Details of their meeting are sketchy but the International Herald Tribune on Tuesday reported that Brooks laid out the case for action based on al-Faruq's arrest.

Quoting an official familiar with what transpired during the meeting, it said Megawati had reached the same conclusions as the U.S. had reached.

Days after, the police announced the arrest of German citizen Seyam Reda, another terrorist suspect, in whose home the police found tapes showing a militant training camp.

The tapes were played in front of senior media representatives and high ranking government, police and military officials on Monday, in an apparent move to gain more support from the media for the government's new-found zeal in the fight against terrorism.

Monday's meeting came as an apparent attempt at damage containment after officials here had first played down the terrorist threat, and then responded to the new information with contradictory statements.

"Indonesia's position has been clear and consistent," Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said during the meeting.

The government officials also met with several ulemas on Tuesday. But the leaders of the nation's two largest Muslim organizations -- Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah -- were not present.

BIN chief Hendropriyono was absent from both meetings.