Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Outgoing Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, who once fiercely rejected the idea of soldiers voting in general elections, has changed his mind.
Endriartono said he now believed TNI members were "mature enough" to exercise their political rights in elections and said denying them the vote would "amount to violating human rights".
Back in 2004, the Army general argued soldiers "were not mature enough to participate in political events such as general elections". "I believe that our soldiers will remain united despite the (inevitable) differences in their political beliefs," he said after installing Vice Marshal Herman Prayitno as the new Air Force chief.
Herman replaced Marshal Djoko Suyanto on Wednesday during a ceremony at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base in East Jakarta. Suyanto on Monday was appointed as the new TNI commander.
Just before the 2004 general election, Endriartono warned soldiers to stay away from polling stations, arguing that TNI personnel lacked the experience to exercise their political rights.
Soldiers were formerly disallowed from voting in the 2004 regional, legislative and presidential elections amid public concerns the military wielded too much political power.
However, with the phasing out of military-held seats in the People's Consultative Assembly and the House of Representatives, legislators and the government are now considering giving soldiers formal voting rights.
"To show our commitment to increasing democracy in this country, we (TNI members) are ready to exercise our political rights in the 2009 general election," Endriartono said.
While installing Djoko Suyanto as TNI commander Monday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered military administrators not to "play in the fires of politics". Instead they should be concentrating on improving the military's professionalism and soldiers' welfare, he said.
Yudhoyono said one fundamental democratic achievement the country had made was excluding the TNI as an institution from practical politics. On Wednesday, senior Golkar Party politician Akbar Tandjung welcomed the military's plan to go to the polls in 2009.
"I think it would be the right time for TNI members to exercise their political rights," he told Antara.