TNI to maintain Kopassus presence in troubled areas
The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The Indonesian Military (TNI) says it will keep its Special Force (Kopassus) troops in conflict areas, despite increasing concerns Kopassus is participating in the conflicts.
TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said local military authorities in the troubled regions were responsible for their troops' behavior, including the soldiers' alleged involvement in several clashes.
Commenting on the recent conflict between two Kopassus members and dozens of National Police personnel in the Maluku capital of Ambon, Sjafrie said the Kopassus soldiers were performing their duties there and that the clash occurred due to technical matters.
"In such a state of civilian emergency, the military intelligence has the authority to question or to arrest or to collect data from civilians. We are not saying whether it is the police or the military who have the authority because Ambon is actually not in a normal situation," Sjafrie told a media conference at the TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta.
The presence of security personnel, including Kopassus, in several troubled areas has long been questioned since they have been accused of fueling the conflicts, instead of establishing security and peace there.
Since 1999, TNI headquarters has deployed more than 9,800 military personnel to the province of Maluku, which has been rocked by a sectarian conflict between Muslims and Christians. The soldiers' presence has failed to restore security and order in the region.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono once asked the TNI chief and the National Police chief to evaluate the performance of the local security authorities in Ambon.
Sjafrie, however, said that the TNI headquarters had decided to maintain Brig. Gen. Moestopo as Maluku's Pattimura Military Commander, on the grounds that "he (Moestopo) is still capable in carrying out his duties there."
In a related development, Vice President Hamzah Haz said on Friday that the detention of proindependence Maluku leader Alexander Hermanus Manuputty in Jakarta, which followed the arrest of the commander of Muslim militant group Laskar Jihad, Ja'far Umar Thalib, displayed "proportional action" taken by security forces.
Manuputty, leader of the proindependence Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM), had been detained by Maluku police for a month on subversion charges which carry a maximum punishment of life in prison according to Article 106 of the Criminal Code.
Hamzah added that Manuputty was brought to Jakarta due to his direct involvement in separatist action.
He said that since the government had shown its intention to dissolve the FKM and the RMS, it hoped that Laskar Jihad would start surrendering their weapons to Maluku authorities.
"Later, when the situation has become more conducive, we hope they (Laskar Jihad) will start to leave Ambon," Hamzah told reporters after Friday prayers at Al-Azhar Mosque in East Jakarta.
Ja'far said on Friday that his forces would only be pulled out of Maluku once he believed that the security of his Muslim brothers in Maluku was guaranteed by the government.
Maluku Police Chief Brig. Gen. Soenarko said that to date, the police had detained 58 people from both Muslim and Christian communities across Ambon, including for weapons possession.