Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Internal security and transnational crime will be the biggest threat to Indonesia's security and the military should be given more powers to handle them, a government White Paper released recently says.
Drafted by the Ministry of Defence, the White Paper lists radical movements, communal conflicts, terrorism and separatism as some of the country's main challenges in the coming years.
It also says that while the possibility of a foreign invasion or military aggression was low, transnational crimes such as piracy, illegal logging and people smuggling would dominate foreign security issues.
The paper recommends that the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) should be deployed to help the police deal with these challenges.
The White Paper is considered to be a preview of a Defence Policy paper that is to be released later this year.
If its recommendations are accepted, it would require a change in the current system, under which the military is in charge of only external defence while the police tackle domestic security.
Two decrees issued in 2000 by the National Assembly (MPR) on the separation of the TNI and the National Police and on the division of duties between the two forces would have to be revised if the White Paper's suggestion is accepted.
Before the decrees were issued, the police were under the military. After the separation, the police have had to deal with problems such as separatism, something they are not trained for.
Mr Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, of a parliamentary committee on security and foreign affairs, said limiting the military's role to external defence had contributed to the deterioration of domestic security in recent years.
As an example, he pointed out that the problem of separatism was dealt with by the military in other parts of the world. But that was not the case in Indonesia.
He said the two MPR decrees needed to be revised because they were drafted hastily in the 'spirit of reforms' following the fall of the Suharto regime.
Defence analyst Rizal Sukma of the Centre of Strategic International Studies told The Straits Times that the decrees had gaps in them, such as they did not spell out what would be the role of the TNI when there was no foreign invasion.
Currently, the TNI is involved in security operations in the secessionist province of Aceh and in sectarian conflicts in Maluku and Poso. But military leaders have complained that a lack of legislation to justify its activities there has made security operations ineffective.
Some human rights activists have, however, expressed fears that if the recommendations of the White Paper are accepted, the military's supremacy in the country will be revived.