Richel Langit, Jakarta – Using threats by poorly equipped separatist movements and prolonged religious conflicts as a pretext, Indonesia's powerful military is seeking to regain the domination it previously enjoyed for more than three decades during the Suharto dictatorship.
A bill submitted by the military leadership to the government recently shows that the military, which has long been accused of human-rights violations across the country, is seeking authority to declare a state of emergency and deploy security personnel to conflict-torn areas without prior approval from the president.
The bill contradicts both the newly amended constitution and the National Defense Law, which stipulate that only the president in his or her capacity as the supreme commander of military has the authority to declare a state of emergency and order deployment of troops to conflict-torn areas. And even then, the president is required to secure prior approval from the House of Representatives (DPR) or report the decision to the House within 24 hours. Under the bill, the military would have the power to skirt both of these provisions.
As the bill, said to have been drafted by a team of five army generals, does not give a clear definition of what constitutes a state of emergency, some analysts and pro-democracy activists have expressed fears that the draft may provide solid legal grounds for a power-hungry military to launch a coup d'etat against a legitimate government. Military officers have consistently ruled out such fears.
The draft is a serious challenge to the country's move toward democracy, especially the pursuit of civilian supremacy over the military. It is also a political maneuver and an attempt by the military to intervene in the political sphere. The bill, if endorsed, will plunge the country into another military dictatorship such as the one partly blamed for Indonesia's current prolonged multi-dimensional crises.
Regardless of whether the DPR endorses the bill or not, the draft clearly demonstrates attempts by the military, whose political clout was clipped after Suharto's downfall in May 1998, to claw back power that now constitutionally belongs to the president.
Since the controversial bill was reported by the national media late last month, the military leadership has vehemently defended it, saying it needs such authority to deal with ethnic and religious conflicts across the country and possible social unrest ahead of general elections next year.
At least 230 political parties have registered with the Justice and Human Rights Ministry to participate in the elections in 2004, when the country is to hold its first direct presidential election. Golkar, the political bandwagon of former dictator Suharto, has listed three former military officers – the current coordinating minister for political and security affairs, General (retired) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; the current minister for transportation, Lieutenant-General (retired) Agum Gumelar; and former military chief General (retired) Wiranto – as potential presidential candidates. President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) has quietly enlisted Yudhoyono as Megawati's running mate in the election, while the National Awakening Party (PKB), which was declared by former president Abdurrahman Wahid, has narrowed down its list of presidential candidates to Yudhoyono and noted Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid.
Analysts and pro-democracy activists have predicted that political conflicts will worsen this year and peak during the election campaign, between March and July 2004. Such conflicts, no matter how small, would seriously affect overall security conditions in the country, which is already confronting prolonged religious violence in Ambon and Poso in Central Sulawesi as well as low-level separatist movements in Papua and Aceh provinces.
The role of military, which once dominated Indonesia's political life, has been gradually and systematically reduced since the forced resignation of Suharto in 1998. The military, particularly the army, supported and became part of Suharto's repressive regime for more than three decades, with many military officers occupying strategic positions in the government or enjoying lucrative business cartels.
However, since the fall of Suharto, demands for the military to return to the barracks and become a professional armed force have mounted and its business endeavors have been limited. Since 2001, the military's role has been limited to defending the country from external threats, while the police have been given the task of maintaining peace and order in the world's biggest archipelagic country.
Last August, the People's Consultative Assembly, Indonesia's highest legislative body, agreed to scrap the military's and police's free seats in both the Assembly and the House by 2004. Should military and police officers want to join the legislative bodies, they have to contest in general elections, for which they have to resign from the service.
However, several big parties have openly thrown their weight behind the new military bill that would, in practice, bring the military back into the country's political arena. Golkar, which has the second-largest faction in the House, and the National Mandate Party (PAN), the fifth-largest, have said they see no problem with giving the military authority to declare a state of emergency and deploy troops anywhere in the country. Golkar is headed by House Speaker Akbar Tanjung, who was sentenced to three years in jail for corruption involving the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) in 1999. PAN, on the other hand, is led by the chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Amien Rais, once a staunch critic of the military's political role.
President Megawati's PDI-Perjuangan has so far been silent on the controversial bill despite enlisting Yudhoyono as Megawati's running mate.
Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil promised on Wednesday to revise the controversial bill but, given his small influence over the military, articles giving military leaders power to declare a state of emergency and deploy troops are likely to stay.
Megawati, who theoretically can still change the draft before it is submitted to the House for deliberation, is likely to heed to military's demand, realizing that she cannot survive without the military's backing.
With virtually all big political parties endorsing the draft, the controversial bill stands a fair chance of being endorsed by the House to curry the powerful military's favor. If the bill is endorsed and enacted into law, the military will not only return to the country's political arena but will also become a super-institution with powers far exceeding those of the president.