Jakarta – About 100 people marched down busy streets here on Wednesday demanding that the Indonesian military give up its political role. The protesters marched from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation towards the Ministry of Defense to protest at the military's "dual function" of the last three decades, witnesses said.
The protesters were members of the once outlawed People's Democratic Party and its affiliate labour group Kobar as well as the Woman's Voice, a women's organisation. "For democracy ABRI has to return to the barracks," read a poster referring to the military's popular acronym of ABRI.
Under Indonesian law, the military is given a role in socio-political affairs as well as defence. Active and retired military officers are numerous in almost every sectors of the political and business scene. The demonstrators also carried posters demanding that former president Suharto's son-in-law Prabowo Subianto be court-martialled over his involvement in the abduction and torture of activists earlier this year.
Armed Forces Chief General Wiranto in August honorably discharged Prabowo, a lieutenant general, from the army for his involvement in the kidnappings. "Adolf 'Prabowo' Hitler: the bloodthirsty Dracula," read a poster with Prabowo's picture depicted as a Dracula with blood-dripping fangs. "Court martial Prabowo," and "We demand Prabowo's accountability," read other posters.
Some 75 police and troops marched alongside the protesters, who were stopped halfway to the defense ministry. Police told 10 of the protestors and family members of 14 still missing activists to go by car to meet officials there. But the delegation returned, saying it was not allowed to meet officials. Police were armed with rattan sticks and soldiers carried rifles.
A brief scuffle broke out when protestors tried to push through the security barricade when they learned that their colleagues were denied entry at the defense ministry despite earlier promises. Yelling "liar, liar" at the troops, the protestors then decided to march back towards the Legal Aid Foundation office.
Protests, mostly by students, against the military's non-defence role have been mounting in the past week. A seminar held by a non-governmental organisation was discussing the ties between the military and civilians at a nearby hotel as the protest was staged.
The military has come in for increasing criticism for past abuses since Suharto stepped down from the presidency under mounting public pressure in May. In front of the parliament complex, some 150 students from three universities held a peaceful protest demanding lower prices and a clean government.