Nationalism makes

Nationalism makes militias legal

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