TNI's democratic guerrilla war

The Indonesian military (TNI) is indeed experienced in guerrilla warfare. Even in drafting the bill on political parties, its guerrilla maneuver could manage to include the right for members of the TNI and police to vote and be elected.

Power is something desirable and tends to be intoxicating, in fact. Under the Soeharto regime, the TNI and police enjoyed this power through its figures, who occupied decisive positions in virtually all ranks of the government.

Now under the excuse of human rights, there arose stipulations that they, too, reserve the human rights to be respected, in terms of the right to vote and particularly to be elected.

Anyway, this has aroused the suspicion that the TNI/police already anticipated the spread of power over various regions. And with an average higher quality of human resources than that of most civilians, one can expect that they will have greater chance of being elected.

The emergence of this voting right provision actually reflects the unwillingness of the TNI/police to give up the role in the national political process, and at the same time the weak point of civilians in 'resisting' the military guerrillas.

The statement of speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly Amien Rais on the necessity to introduce a very strict rule, is right. This is to prevent the possible recurrence of practices of power abuse even through democratic means. Sadly, the large number of civilians in institutions of people's representatives are not yet capable of building political stability, and this inevitably has tempted the military to preserve its role.

-- Republika, Jakarta