Danu Damarjati, Jakarta – The National Conscience Movement (GNB) rejects the discourse on the Indonesian Military (TNI) dealing with terrorism that emerged through news of a draft presidential regulation (Perpres) which has been rejected by the Civil Society Coalition.
The GNB warned that the policy should not create overlapping authority with other institutions, especially the National Police (Polri).
"So there is no need for practical changes in terms of mechanisms for handling terrorism", said GNB member Alissa Wahid, who is also the daughter of the 4th president of the Republic of Indonesia Abdurrahman Wahid, during a press conference at the Cathedral Church in Jakarta on Tuesday January 13.
Wahid said that so far Indonesia has shown good performance in handling terrorism through existing mechanisms.
For this reason, the GNB hopes that there will be no overlap in the mechanisms for handling terrorism by means of involving the TNI.
"So far, Indonesia has actually shown good performance in the context of terrorism, with the mechanism (handling by Polri) that exists at the moment", she explained.
According to Wahid, the GNB actually wants to ensure that the TNI continues to work in areas that are its main mandate, namely defence and safeguarding state sovereignty.
Meaning, not related to matters of handling terrorism which have so far been handled by law enforcement officials.
"We actually want to ensure that the TNI works in the areas of defence of state sovereignty", asserted Wahid. "So defence functions are not related to terrorism", she added.
Aside from having the potential to cause overlapping authority, changes to the mechanisms for handling terrorism are also not urgent if you look at the current situation.
She highlighted the trend of terrorism cases in Indonesia which is seen to have decreased significantly since the early 2000s.
"If we look for example, the number of terrorism cases has decreased very drastically since the decade of the early 2000s, it has indeed decreased drastically", said Wahid.
Furthermore, Wahid emphasised that the challenges facing Indonesia today are no longer terrorism in general, but rather issues of freedom of religion and belief.
According to Wahid, this issue is a matter of religious practice, not terrorism. "Our challenge is not terrorism in general, but freedom of religion and belief, which is of course a very different thing", she said.
Coalition rejects presidential decree
A polemic has emerged following the circulation of a draft presidential regulation on the TNI's duties in combating terrorism. The draft Perpres has been rejected by the Civil Society Coalition for Security Sector Reform.
The Coalition, which consists of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial), the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), the Centra Initiative, the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and Amnesty International Indonesia, considers the Perpres to be both formally and materially problematic.
Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Prasetyo Hadi has stated that the document on the TNI's role in countering terrorism is only a draft and not yet final.
According to Hadi, the document circulating in the public is not a presidential regulation but a Presidential Letter (Surpres) as the basis for discussion.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "GNB Tolak TNI Tangani Terorisme, Militer Harus Tetap di Fungsi Pertahanan".]