Nationalism and militias

Nationalism and militias

From Suara Pembaruan

The Indonesian people have to thank God because our founding
fathers succeeded in formulating the solid foundation of our
state, based on our established ancient culture and tradition.
And the philosophy of life of the Indonesian people has been so
powerful that it has never failed to solve the problems and
challenges faced by the nation. We were ready to sacrifice
whatever we possessed to defend the country, its ideology and the
1945 Constitution.

With our state ideology and Constitution inalienable, the
nation has always been triumphant in overcoming any problems or
hindrances within the country and/or external threats, which,
otherwise, had great potential to annihilate our identity and
integrity or even the survival of the country.

According the Article 30 of the 1945 Constitution all
components of the nation are called upon to the defense of the
state. So, under whatever name the Indonesian National Commission
on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) calls the armed civilian fighters in
Aceh -- militias, self-supporting security groups, you name it --
as long as everything they do is to defend the integrity of the
state, then I believe the move is legal. And I think it is truly
constitutional for the government to impose martial law in
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam to destroy the separatist movement.

SUJUD R, Jakarta