Al Araf and Anton Aliabbas, Bandung – The swearing-in ceremony of the 2009-2014 House of Representatives' members is a sign that democratization in Indonesia is a continuing process. It is hoped the new Members of Parliament (MPs) will complete the reforms agenda, including those related to the Indonesian Military (TNI).
During the reform era, the House contributed to the success of military reform, by enacting some pieces of legislation on the security sector, such as Law No. 3/2002 on State Defense and Law No. 34/2004 on the Indonesian Military, although both laws still have substantial weaknesses.
The House deserves praise over its openness to engage civil society in the deliberation of those laws.
However, being open is not enough as the House lacks consistency in responding to criticism and input from the public. Sometimes, it accommodates inputs, but in some cases it disregards them. This shows the deliberation of bills in the House is politically motivated, especially in relation to parties, the House, the government and the military.
In general, the role of the House in military reforms is insufficient. Many people still consider the House's performance as poor. Research also suggests the same. Horse trading – a common phenomenon among MPs in the New Order era – continues to date. Political bargaining between the House and the government in the deliberation and passing of laws, government policies, programs and government budgets often leads to allegations of money politics.
Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono once raised the issue of corruption, collusion and nepotism in the House over defense issues, calling some MPs "brokers" in the purchasing of defense equipment. Juwono, however, clarified his statement later after the MPs protested against him.
When it comes to legislation, MPs from the 2004-2009 House, who recently finished their term, did not pass any defense- and security-related bills. The military tribunal bill, for example, was not enacted despite nearly five years of deliberation. A revision of Law No. 31/1997 on the Military Tribunal has been mandated by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) decree No. VII/2000 and the TNI law itself. Surprisingly, many MPs prefer to discuss bills that have been strongly opposed by the public, such as the state secrecy bill.
Similarly, a result by Imparsial shows parliamentary oversight on defense and security sector during the reform period was weak and ineffective. One of the main indicators of the House's weak parliamentary oversight on defense is its failure to verify state budget expenditure during the martial law and civil emergency in Aceh (2003-2004), where approximately Rp 5 trillion (US$523 million) was spent.
The parliament's weakness in promoting military reform is, on one hand, influenced by the MPs' lack of political will, which can be seen from the MPs' low attendance rate at House meetings. On the other hand, parliamentarians still do not fully grasp problems and issues related to defense and security.
Only a few MPs had a good understanding and were well informed about defense and security-related issues. And only a few of those have an academic background in defense and security.
Whereas, according to Larry Diamond and Marc F Plattner in Hubungan Sipil-Militer dan Konsolidasi Demokrasi, 2001 (Civil-Military Relations and the Consolidation of Democracy, 2001), civilian supremacy over military needs more than just efforts to control the military in order to minimize military intervention in politics.
So the head of government, the parliament and the minister of defense should have the ability to determine budget priorities and defense strategy, weapon purchasing and curriculum at the military academy as well as military doctrine, while members of a supervisory board should at least have the capacity to review and monitor policy implementation.
What Diamond and Partner said above shows us that self-reliance and civilian skills in managing a system of government or authority is an important factor when trying to put the military under the control of civilian authorities.
In such a situation, parties need to improve how they evaluate disciplinary issues regarding MPs, to place MPs at House commissions matching their skills and competence, to develop MPs' competencies through education and training especially on security and defense issues, and to strengthen MPs by assigning them experts.
A number of military reforms have not yet been completed. They include a review of the military tribunal law, the establishment of a national security law, the restructuring of the TNI's territorial command, the establishment of the Intelligence Act, the complete takeover of military businesses, as well as increasing soldiers' welfare.
Hopefully, the new MPs can demonstrate their commitment so that the primary aim of military reforms – to build a professional military – can be reached. Happy 64th anniversary, TNI.
[Al Araf is research coordinator at Imparsial human rights group, Jakarta. Anton Aliabbas holds Master's degree in Defense Management from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Bandung.]