Military's role still haunts public: Research

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite the growing democracy over the last six years, the people still harbor deep concerns over the role of the military in public life, which they say has spurred the prevalence of violence, a study has found.

In the preliminary report of a study presented on Thursday by human rights watchdog Demos, 83.3 percent of respondents said the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police were not accountable enough to the civilian government and the greater public.

The study also found that 88.9 percent of respondents were of the opinion that the government was susceptible to outside interference from paramilitary units, militias and groups of thugs, all of which they claimed were linked to elements in the military.

"As a result, 75.5 percent of respondents said they were vulnerable to violence," it said.

The study interviewed 400 respondents consisting of non- governmental organization (NGO) activists, members of political parties and other politically conscious community figures across the country's 32 provinces as part of an ongoing project to gauge the extent of democratic development.

The study also found that the concept of security was "still defined as a state- or territorial security that takes precedence over human security, which covers universal human rights," the report said.

The House of Representatives recently endorsed the controversial military bill, which it said would help transform the TNI into a professional military. However, the enacted bill did not address the abolition of the TNI's territorial role.

Asmara Nababan of Demos said no significant changes had been made in the relationship between the TNI and the civilian government, as the political stage was still dominated by the political elite, who were reluctant to implement sweeping reforms.

"Instead, those from the old regimes, including the military, were able to secure strategic positions in government without counterbalancing measures from the pro-democracy movement," he said.

Asmara said as the existing political system could not diminish the role of the military overnight, the public needed to be given a role in the decision-making process on the use of military force.

"People must be involved in the decision-making process at all levels. Such a role must be played the whole time, not just once every five years," Asmara said, referring to the span of time until the next election year.

He said the people should be consulted at every step during the decision-making process.

Analyst Andi Widjajanto of the University of Indonesia concurred with Asmara and said the civilian government must impose intricate procedures on the use of the military force.

"Such procedures would obstruct the arbitrary use of military force," he said, adding that they would also prevent the military from accumulating greater power.