Politicizing Indonesia's
military By Fabio Scarpello
JAKARTA - Indonesia's renewed "war on
terror" in the wake of the latest round of
bombings on Bali could pave the way for renewed
politicization of the country's military, analysts
believe.
President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono has already called on the Indonesian
Military (TNI) to be more active, and there are
fears this could lead to possible abuse and halt
the process of reform begun after the end of the
Suharto era in 1998.
"In this country, we
are still struggling to depoliticize the TNI and
this decision will bring it back into the
political arena," said Salim Said, a political
scientist from the Indonesia Institute of Science
(LIPI).
Yudhoyono's announcement came
during the TNI's 60th anniversary celebrations on
October 4, and only three days after
the latest bombing
on the island resort of Bali , which left 23 dead,
140 injured and 22 still missing.
The
attack was the latest in a series in Indonesia,
bloodied regularly since 2000 by the Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI), which is fighting to bring most of
Southeast Asia under a single Islamic state and
has links with Osama bin Laden's international
al-Qaeda network.
The burden of fighting
terrorism in Indonesia has fallen on the shoulders
of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the
National Police, which lack funds, expertise and
coordination.
Although dozens of JI's
operatives have been arrested, the police and BIN
have been unable to prevent the attacks or capture
all of those believed to be behind the bombings.
This failure prompted Yudhoyono to call on the
feared and only partly accountable, TNI, which
still stands accused of widespread human-rights
abuse throughout the archipelago.
The call
for help was enthusiastically received by the
TNI's chief, General Endriartono Sutarto, who said
he would take the necessary measures to crack down
on terrorists by reactivating the military's
"territorial function". The territorial function
means deployment of forces akin to that of an
occupying army. Soldiers are placed in every
corner of the country, from the main cities down
to the smallest villages. This system was used by
the former dictator, Suharto, as an effective tool
to monitor people's movements and crush dissent.
"The government has given us a clear order
to participate in the war against terrorism," he
told the media after Yudhoyono's announcement.
"First, we will raise public awareness about the
condition of local neighborhoods. Second, we will
activate the territorial command down to the
village level, and third, of course, we will share
intelligence information with other institutions,
especially the police."
Throughout the new
order regime, as Suharto's 33 years in power was
dubbed, the territorial function gave rise to
widespread excess of power and human-rights abuse.
It also brought generals into close contact with
local politicians and businessmen, paving the way
for collusion and interference in every facet of
the country's life.
It was largely
dismantled following the fall of Suharto, when the
student-led "Reformasi" movement forced the
introduction of reforms aimed at limiting the
power and influence of the TNI in Indonesian
political life.
Though Sutarto now insists
the territorial function will not be abused, its
revival has sent shivers down the spines of most
analysts.
"People have not forgotten the
abuse suffered at the hands of the TNI during the
new order regime," Hilman Latief, a lecturer at
Yogyakarta Muhammadiyah University department of
Islamic Studies, told IPS. "They are still
traumatized and the government has to be very
careful about involving generals in the fight
against terror."
Agus Widjojo, a
commentator on military issues who is renowned for
his pro-reform stance, said any involvement of the
TNI should be based on the constitution and the
principle of democracy.
"The constitution
gives the TNI a role in the national defense, but
it can also be called upon by the president to
help with domestic problems," he said. "However,
it must respect the principle of democracy."
According to Yudhoyono, the law allowing
for the drafting of the TNI is Defense Law number
34/2004, passed in September 2004. This has been
hotly contested by some analysts who have a
different reading of the same law.
J
Kristiadi, an expert on security matters at the
Jakarta Center for Strategic and International
Studies, said the president's move is a violation
of the law, which stipulates that TNI's
territorial function must be eliminated by 2009.
"Reviving the territorial command is
against the law," he told the Jakarta Post
newspaper, adding that the military should only be
involved in security matters if the police ask for
its help.
Andi Widjayanto, a military
analyst from the University of Indonesia,
acknowledges that Article 11 of the law did not,
in so many words, prohibit the reinstatement of
the territorial function, but he said Yudhoyono's
move was against the "spirit" of the law, which
was written to push TNI internal reforms.
In any case, according to Widjojo, if
brought back, the territorial function has to be
limited with safeguards and clear limits in time
and duties.
"It has to be clear that it is
a temporary measure and what the TNI can and
cannot do," he said. "Both have to be stipulated
by the political authority."
