Most candidates favor civilian supremacy over military
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