Jakarta – The proposed involvement of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in the ongoing war on terrorism has to be closely monitored and based on a clear-cut job description with the National Police to avoid the abuse of human rights and power, says the House of Representatives.

Several members of the House's Commission I on information, defense and foreign affairs agreed that the recent statement by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the necessary involvement of the TNI in the fight against terrorism had to be implemented cautiously to avoid the rise of militarism that was used in the New Order era.

"The law on the TNI stipulates that there is a possibility for the military to contribute its resources to help the police fight against terrorism," Effendi Choirie, a member of the commission and a legislator from the National Awakening Party (PKB) told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta on Friday.

"However, the law does not clarify this in further detail, such as whether the TNI has the authority to arrest people or not. Therefore, it is very important that the government issue a regulation, which will detail the stipulation. The House will then monitor the process of the regulation deliberation," he added.

Human rights activists, such as Poengky Indarti from Imparsial Human Rights Watch, recently expressed concern about Yudhoyono's statement saying the statement could mean the TNI would regain its power to interfere in both civilian and political domains, just like during the New Order Era.

During the 32 years of Soeharto's New Order dictatorship, the military was given authority to arrest and process anybody accused of subversion against the state.

Thousands of people were arrested or abducted by the military without any proper processing of law during that time. After Soeharto's downfall in 1998, the TNI then reformed, but its authority was then limited to defense issues, not civilian and political issues.

Andreas Pareira, another commission member from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that he fully understood that it was not easy for activists to get over the traumatic scars caused by the military's vast authoritarian regime in the past.

"We must not revert to the past. However, it is also an undeniable fact that the TNI has a very big potential when it comes to fighting terrorism, but what happens now is that the military seems to be "waiting for orders" due to the unclear definition of the assisting role stipulated in the law.

"So, I also believe the government needs to issue a regulation detailing the TNI's role in counterterrorism measures," he said.

Happy Bone, another member of the commission from the Golkar Party, said that he would welcome the possibility to give the TNI a more active role in combating terrorism.

"In the past, the TNI with its Army Special Force [Kopasssus] recorded many successes in dealing with terrorism. If only the TNI was given more authority in dealing with terrorism earlier, then Noordin M. Top may have been captured by now," he said.

However, Happy also said that the authority given to the TNI had to be tightly monitored by both the House and the public. "The decision to further empower the TNI is a political issue. Therefore, the House, as a political institution, has the obligation to closely monitor the future development on that issue," he said.

Andreas said the first step of the monitoring process would begin on Monday. "We will raise this issue during a meeting with the political and security affairs ministry," he said. (hdt)