Most candidates favor civilian supremacy over military

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Tiarma Siboro Jakarta

All five of the presidential candidates except retired general Wiranto have indicated that they favor civil supremacy in the handling of defense and security affairs.

And while all of the candidates are for a professional military, their platforms fail to elaborate on how this can be achieved, a discussion with the candidates' campaign teams found.

The discussion on Wednesday on the candidates' defense and security platforms was hosted by Propatria, a non-governmental organization comprising experts on defense issues.

Lt. Gen. (ret) Suaidi Marasabessy, chairman of Wiranto's campaign team, said the concept of "civilian supremacy" or a civil-military dichotomy was not found in the 1945 Constitution or Law No. 3/2002 on state defense.

"Civilians and the military are equal before the law," he said.

Edy Prasetyono of the Centre for Strategic International Studies said he appreciated the four presidential candidates who had adopted in their platforms the concept of civilian supremacy, a crucial part of democracy.

Edy called on the candidates to continue the internal reform of the military, as was promised following the formal end of the New Order regime in 1998.

Under the new structure, "the TNI (Indonesian Military) commander would be subordinate to the defense minister", he said.

Currently, the TNI commander is on a par with Cabinet ministers.

In a study of the defense platforms of the candidates, the experts found, for example, that none of the platforms discussed the need to review the role of the police to protect and serve the people.

Neither did any of the platforms touch on changing the police culture, which the experts said was essential to help the police adapt to its new role as a separate entity from the TNI, as outlined in the new law on the police.

Legal expert Bambang Widjojanto said the police "must change themselves to become a civilian police force ... to protect and serve the people, enforce the law and maintain security and order".

On defense in general, Wiranto's platform stresses the need for consistency among regulations and laws. But it does not discuss how relations between the military and the police should be changed in line with the new law on the police.

While the law states that internal security is the responsibility of the police, which can request help from the TNI when necessary, the platforms of Megawati and Hamzah Haz propose ways to involve the TNI in internal security matters. Amien Rais' platform also stresses the need to draw up laws on the arrangement of TNI's assistance to the government.

Edy said the presidential candidates should also make concrete programs to improve the professionalism of the TNI.

"The recruitment and training system must be reviewed, the military's annual budget must be derived from the annual state budget and the military must be transparent regarding its budget," he said, adding that the military should not be allowed to engage in business.

All of the candidates agreed that the welfare of TNI personnel must be improved.

Eye-box

Excerpts of defense platforms

Wiranto :

-- improve the defense system in phases

-- develop a professional military

-- provide subsidies for the defense industry over a certain period

Megawati : -- build an effective national defense system

based on civilian supremacy,

humanitarian laws and international customs

-- revise law on military tribunals

-- review TNI education and training

Amien Rais : -- make national policy on civilian supremacy

over military

-- subordinate TNI to defense ministry

-- review Law No. 3/2002 on state defense

-- improve TNI's education and training

-- design annual planning, programs and budgets

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono:

-- Place TNI under civilian supremacy

-- facilitate TNI's professionalism

Hamzah Haz: -- subordinate TNI commander to defense minister

-- TNI should be made accountable to govt/legislature

-- improve defense system