Agencies in Jakarta – The army chief has weighed into a politicised controversy over what constitutes insubordination in the forces, saying soldiers have the right to disobey unlawful orders. "In certain cases, disobeying an order is justified," said General Endriartono Sutarto in an article published yesterday.

The article, in the leading Kompas daily, came exactly a week after an accusation by Defence Minister Muhammad Mahfud that the military and police were guilty of insubordination to embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Mr Mahfud, a civilian, was commenting after the country's police chief refused to step down when asked to do so by Mr Wahid, arguing he could not be replaced without the consent of Parliament.

His comment also came after military and police leaders came out publicly against Mr Wahid's plan to impose a state of emergency, which would have allowed him to disband Parliament before it could move to impeach him in a special session of the Upper House, set for August.

Yesterday, Mr Wahid diplomatically laid the blame for past and present human rights abuses by the police and military on rogue elements, and not the institutions themselves.

A 1997 military law demanded unquestioned obedience of the military and the police to the President, who is the military's supreme commander according to the 1945 constitution, Mr Mahfud said. Under the law, those guilty of insubordination face up to 28 months in jail.

But in yesterday's article, General Sutarto said the soldier's oath and regulations on military discipline state that although troops are obliged to obey their superiors, certain orders are exceptions.

He cited these as orders to engage in crime, to take action against the interests of the public or military, those impossible to implement because of conditions and overlapping orders. "Obedience to an order is justified if the receiver of the order has the conviction that it is for the sake of the nation and the military and not otherwise," he said.