Soldiers don't want to vote in elections: Endriartono

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.