On soldiers' rights to vote

On soldiers' rights to vote

Is it consistent with democracy to deny some 420,000 Indonesian citizens who happen to wear the uniform of the military or the police their basic right to vote for reasons that are either questionable or totally irrational?

The Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief General Endriartono Sutarto repeatedly stated that soldiers are not yet ready to vote because of their lack of political experience. What reason does the general have to believe that soldiers have less political experience than the rest of the Indonesian people who were also not given the opportunity to gain political experience because they were deprived of their political rights for three decades?

Besides, why should soldiers not be mature enough to vote, if on the other hand they are considered as being mature enough to risk their lives when fighting rebels, fanatic lunatics or criminals?

The Army Chief of Staff General Ryamizard Ryacudu said "We lose our individual rights the moment we join the military" (The Jakarta Post, June 24, 2002). Does this mean that those who join the military have also to leave behind their basic rights as citizens?

PPP backs TNI 'boycott' of election reads a headline in the Post on Sept. 9. Such support for the military's move to discourage its soldiers from using their voting rights comes not as a surprise, as it can be assumed that the majority of the soldiers will give their votes to secular-nationalist parties rather than to the United Development Party (PPP) or other small religious parties.

But the most incredible statement concerning the soldiers' right to vote came from Kusmanto Anggoro of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He said: "I think we must give some punishment to TNI for its past violations by denying them the right to vote at least until 2009 ...". Does this mean that all members of the military and of the police who served for three decades under Soeharto's New Order regime deserve a collective punishment by taking away their right to vote? Kusmanto does obviously ignore the fact that "...the right to vote relates to a person not an institution..." as has been rightly stated by the Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno (the Post, Sept. 10).

Finally, the question arises: who is less prepared for democracy, the soldiers or those who want -- for whatever reason -- to make them second class citizens by denying them the right to vote?

HILDE MAY

Jakarta