TNI officers urged to choose between military or politics
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Political observers believe that military (TNI) members on active duty should not be allowed to join a political party unless they quit the military. However, they also support the idea of military personnel voting in elections.
Yahya Muhaimin of Yogyakarta University and Syamsuddin Haris of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) were commenting on President Megawati's recent call for the military to quit politics and concentrate on defense functions.
The military, which was the backbone of the New Order regime until president Soeharto tumbled in 1998, has pledged to give up their 38 seats from the House of Representatives by 2004 and from the People's Consultative Assembly in 2009.
Muhaimin said that when the soldiers are stripped of their legislative role, they should have full access to political parties to channel their aspirations.
"The military abandoning politics is something we have been waiting for a long time. We want to have a truly professional military however, we want to see them retain a say in defense and security matters," said Yahya, who is also a former minister of education.
Since Soeharto fell from power in 1998, the military has symbolically reduced its political role.
The TNI is reportedly going through some major restructuring involving the elimination of a number of posts, including territorial affairs, which critics say hampers democracy due to the military's deep involvement in civilian affairs, and was allegedly manipulated to maintain dictatorial government under Soeharto.
The military, which is not allowed to vote in the general election, has been granted seats in the House of Representatives and People's Consultative Assembly in recognition for its political role.
Yahya said that reinstatement of the right to vote was different from direct involvement in politics by joining a political party or being a member of the legislature.
"The military is armed to win wars. If these personnel join political parties, I am afraid they will use their weapons to win votes," Yahya said.
Syamsuddin said that a democracy cannot allow the military to play politics as the TNI has done for the past several decades.
"As an institution, of course, the TNI (Indonesian Military) must not quit its vital role as the country's defense instrument, but individually, they must be allowed to vote in general elections," Syamsuddin told the Post.
He stressed that no military member should be allowed to fight for a political seat in any state institution without them first retiring from active service.
If not, it would hamper democracy because the soldiers would bring with them the "military culture", the hierarchy of command and their loyalty to their commanders.
When addressing TNI's 56th anniversary, Megawati called on the military to abandon politics and dump the Dwifungsi, or the dual function doctrine which allows for the political role.
Syamsuddin suggested that former military officers form their own political parties as senior army officers AH Nasution and Gatot Subroto did in 1954.