TNI's role in terror fight still debated

TNI's role in terror fight still debated

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Debate is stirring among government officials following President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's request that the Indonesian Military
(TNI) actively help crack down on terrorists last week.

Top officials gathered on Tuesday to discuss the issue, but
were not yet able to formulate an appropriate task for the
military whose role has been reduced to defense affairs since
1999.

"We are still defining a framework of cooperation between the
police and the military," National Intelligence Agency (BIN)
chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Sjamsir Siregar said after a meeting on
political, legal and security affairs on Tuesday.

He refused to elaborate.

Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono, who also attended the
meeting, said the TNI would assist the police by making use of
its "eyes and ears".

Dismissing fears of the reinstatement of New Order style
repressive measures, Juwono underlined there would be an
intelligence operation to hunt down terrorists.

"Our national defense system requires cooperation between the
TNI and the police to fight terrorism nationwide. Indeed, our
soldiers have been trained to take preemptive measures, but I
must emphasize that in the war on terror the TNI will only supply
intelligence information to the police and the police will still
take the lead," Juwono said.

A different opinion was voiced by Insp. Gen. (ret) Ansja'ad
Mbai of the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political,
Legal and Security Affairs.

Ansja'ad said TNI territorial commanders could have the
authority to arrest suspected terrorists before handing them over
to the police.

"If we want the whole country to be protected from any kind of
terror threats, then we must empower all elements of this nation
to take part in the war on terror. Even regional military
commanders should be authorized to arrest terror suspects," he
said after the meeting.

"But, of course, the commanders must immediately hand over the
suspects to the police."

The bombings on the resort island of Bali on Oct. 1 have
prompted the President to order the TNI to be proactive in taking
measures to prevent further attacks.

In response, TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said he would
reactivate the much-criticized TNI territorial function.

During the New Order era, the territorial function enabled the
military to play a sociopolitical role, which then led to rampant
human rights abuses.

The reform movement following the fall of the New Order
government in 1998 returned the task of security to the police,
with the TNI playing a supporting role.

But Law No. 34/2004 on military reform did not scrap the TNI's
territorial structure, ranging from the provincial to village
levels.

In order to prevent abuses from recurring, critics have
suggested that the government allow the military to merely
intensify its intelligence capacity, but make sure the leading
role remains in the hands of the police.