TNI's new role in terror fight to be limited, chief says

TNI's new role in terror fight to be limited, chief says

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian Military Chief (TNI) Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on
Wednesday that the plans to reactivate the much-criticized
military's territorial function to help in the fight against
terrorism would not extend to allowing soldiers to make arrests.

Speaking to reporters after briefing senior Army officers,
Endriartono said that the role of soldiers in the field would be
limited to gathering intelligence information from the community
and passing it onto the police, who would then take the "real
legal action" against suspected terrorists.

"The real purpose of the TNI's territorial function is the
safeguarding by the military of this nation from any kind of
attacks. And this role has never been scrapped. I now want to
strengthen this role in the fight against terrorism following on
from the President's order for us to do so," Endriartono said.

The statement came amid criticism over his previous statements
to the effect that the TNI planned to reactivate its dormant
territorial commands -- from the provincial-level regional
military commands down to non-commissioned officers, called
Babinsa at village level -- as part of the effort to fight
terrorism. The plan was unveiled after President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono called on the TNI to be more proactive in fighting
terrorism following the Oct. 1 bomb attacks on Bali that killed
23.

But critics, including a number of top politicians and rights
activists, have expressed fears that reactivating the TNI's
territorial commands, including their territorial functions,
could pave the way for the military to become involved once again
in politics and human rights abuses as occurred in the past under
the authoritarian rule of former president Soeharto.

The TNI's sociopolitical role (the essence of the territorial
function), was scrapped following the fall of Soeharto. Instead,
the military has been told to focus on national defense, with the
police being given full authority over domestic security
including the fight against terrorism.

"I can ensure you that I will not let my troops get involved
in that sort of sociopolitical role. Never. I will just
encourage my troops to reopen communications with the people in a
bid to gather intelligence and forward it to the police,"
Endriartono said.

Endriartono's plan to reactivate the military's territorial
role has also been criticized as an Army-heavy policy, while the
two other forces -- the Navy and Air Force -- will not be
involved, even though suspected terrorists could utilize the
country's maritime territory and airspace to launch attacks.

Endriartono did not specifically address this criticism.

Separately, Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said that the
government was currently in the process of finalizing a
coordination mechanism between the TNI and the police to
strengthen the fight against terrorism, and expected final
guidelines to be issued within the next three months.

Asked whether the guidelines would enable the state to
adequately control the military to prevent it from abusing its
revived territorial role, Juwono simply said: "No one can give a
guarantee that the military will not abuse its territorial role.
All we civilians can do is to do our best to control the
military."