Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Debate is stirring among government officials following President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's request that the Indonesian Military (TNI) actively help crack down on terrorists last week.

Top officials gathered on Tuesday to discuss the issue, but were not yet able to formulate an appropriate task for the military whose role has been reduced to defense affairs since 1999.

"We are still defining a framework of cooperation between the police and the military," National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Sjamsir Siregar said after a meeting on political, legal and security affairs on Tuesday. He refused to elaborate.

Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono, who also attended the meeting, said the TNI would assist the police by making use of its "eyes and ears". Dismissing fears of the reinstatement of New Order style repressive measures, Juwono underlined there would be an intelligence operation to hunt down terrorists.

"Our national defense system requires cooperation between the TNI and the police to fight terrorism nationwide. Indeed, our soldiers have been trained to take preemptive measures, but I must emphasize that in the war on terror the TNI will only supply intelligence information to the police and the police will still take the lead," Juwono said.

A different opinion was voiced by Insp. Gen. (ret) Ansja'ad Mbai of the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs. Ansja'ad said TNI territorial commanders could have the authority to arrest suspected terrorists before handing them over to the police.

"If we want the whole country to be protected from any kind of terror threats, then we must empower all elements of this nation to take part in the war on terror. Even regional military commanders should be authorized to arrest terror suspects," he said after the meeting. "But, of course, the commanders must immediately hand over the suspects to the police."

The bombings on the resort island of Bali on Oct. 1 have prompted the President to order the TNI to be proactive in taking measures to prevent further attacks. In response, TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said he would reactivate the much-criticized TNI territorial function.

During the New Order era, the territorial function enabled the military to play a sociopolitical role, which then led to rampant human rights abuses. The reform movement following the fall of the New Order government in 1998 returned the task of security to the police, with the TNI playing a supporting role. But Law No. 34/2004 on military reform did not scrap the TNI's territorial structure, ranging from the provincial to village levels.

In order to prevent abuses from recurring, critics have suggested that the government allow the military to merely intensify its intelligence capacity, but make sure the leading role remains in the hands of the police.