Markus Junianto Sihaloho – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the House of Representatives were urged on Sunday to include the revision of the Military Tribunal Law in the national legislation program.

Haris Azhar, deputy chairman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said the current Military Tribunal Law was contrary to ongoing legal reforms.

The People's Consultative Assembly decrees No. 6 and No. 7 in 2000 had mandated the revision of the law, which stipulates that soldiers accused of criminal offenses be tried in military courts, he said.

Military courts often handed down lighter sentences than civilian courts, Haris said.

He said the Military Tribunal Law contributed to a climate of impunity for soldiers and did not provide for transparency when cases were tried. "It must be immediately revised by entering it to the national legislation program," Haris said.

The government had earlier announced that it would prioritize deliberations on several laws, including a bill to revise the Military Tribunal Law. However, the House of Representatives has not yet announced whether the bill would be included in its legislation program.

The national legislation program is a collection of bills to be deliberated by the House over the five-year term. The bill was actually included in the 2004-2009 national legislation program but was not deliberated by the House.

In 2006, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued a statement saying his administration supported the bill's basic principle that soldiers accused of criminal offenses should be tried in civilian courts. However, it was stalled when the Defense Ministry, led by former Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono, and the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) insisted that any soldiers suspected of a civilian crime be questioned by military police instead of civilian police.

Choirul Anam, from the Human Rights Working Group, said there were many reasons for the government and the House to revise the law this time. The current law led to ambiguity, he said.

For example, a recent case involving controversial retired Brig. Gen. Herman Sarens Sudiro, involved a case of alleged misappropriation of Army property, Choirul said.

There was an ambiguous situation, and it was unclear whether Herman should be arrested by military police, or by the police, as urged by his family, he said.

"The authority of who should investigate any criminal cases must be made clear through a revision to the law," Choirul said.

Military spokesman Air Vice Marshall Sagom Tamboen said any request to accelerate a revision of the Military Tribunal Law should be directed to the government. "The military is always ready to follow any policy made by the government, including revision of the law," Tamboen said.

However, he said he thought the current law was sufficient to regulate the military and that time should not be wasted in revising the law. "Because the Military Court is now under the structure of the Supreme Court, it means the military is now in accordance with the civilian system," Tamboen said.