Soldiers don't want to vote in elections: Endriartono

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The order for Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel not to vote in the upcoming election remains, its chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on Friday.

A few interviewed soldiers backed up the decision.

Constitutional law expert Sri Sumantri said the order violated citizens' political rights, which were guaranteed by the Constitution.

Sri, a lecturer from Padjadjaran University in Bandung, West Java, said that political rights belong to individuals, therefore "the decision to exercise the right to vote must be left to the soldiers."

"Soldiers are citizens who have political rights and we must respect that," he told The Jakarta Post.

He admitted the political change may create confusion among soldiers, who have not voted in almost four decades. But he asserted that the TNI chief had no right to persuade soldiers to give up their right to vote.

He recalled the landmark 1955 election when soldiers, just like civilians, voted for political parties. He asserted that it did not affect military unity.

"But the problem with soldiers is classic: They do not have the courage to take action against their superior who violates their rights. I guess even a three-star general would think twice about taking his or her commander to court," he said.

The right to vote is granted for the military in line with the People's Consultative Assembly's decision to scrap the free legislative seats allocated for the TNI and National Police starting from 2004.

The TNI has around 346,000 personnel, mostly in the Army.

During the New Order administration, then president Soeharto prohibited the military from participating in the elections. In return the military were reserved legislative seats, the number of which far exceeded those belonging to political parties which had to fight it out in the elections.

Endriartono said the military should remain neutral and would need a long time to prepare themselves to exercise their right to vote. He feared soldiers would be split over political allegiance if they voted.

Despite the controversy, two Army soldiers said they would not exercise their political rights even in the absence of an order from their chief.

Another soldier praised Endriartono, saying that "rampant money politics among parties may lead us into conflict."

"With or without the request from the TNI chief, I'm not going to vote anyway, because none of the political parties, neither those founded by civilians nor senior military, deserve support. We have seen how they buy votes and such a practice would endanger our institution because most soldiers still face economic hardship," the soldier, who requested anonymity, said.

An Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) member said it would be better for the country to revoke the political rights for the military to enable them to focus on state duties.

"Let the civilians deal with politics, I don't care," he said.