By Ananda Teresia
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Rights groups in Indonesia on Wednesday urged parliament to reject contentious revisions of military laws, saying they would take the archipelago back to an era of military domination and create legal uncertainty.
Indonesia’s parliament is set to pass the law on Thursday in a plenary council after the house committee overseeing military approved the changes, which will allow armed forces personnel to hold more civilian posts.
Rights groups and student organisations called for protests outside the parliament on Thursday.
Rights group Legal Aid Institute said the revision would pull Indonesia back 30 years to an era where the late strongman Suharto used the military to dominate civilian affairs and crush dissent in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
“The revision is a legislative crime that threatens Indonesians and the future of democracy,” said Arif Maulana, deputy chair of the institute.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander and Suharto’s former son-in-law, has expanded the armed forces’ role since taking office in October.
The government defends the bill saying it incorporated concerns and watered it down by stipulating that military officers must first resign before being placed in most civilian roles.
A lawmaker from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, Nico Siahaan, said the government added more agencies where active soldiers could be appointed, including the state secretariat, Attorney General’s Office, as well as the counter-terrorism and narcotics agencies.
Active soldiers in the Attorney General Office would affect transparency of legal processes involving military personnel, Arif said, adding that there was a risk of armed forces using violence in civilian roles.
Allowing the military to be more involved in civilian affairs could also lead to abuse of power, human rights violations, and impunity, said Usman Hamid of Amnesty International Indonesia.
Budi Djiwandono, the deputy chief of committee overseeing the military law bill, said the government would ensure that it upholds civil supremacy.
Djiwandono, who is also Prabowo’s nephew, added that no active military personnel would be placed in state-owned companies, dismissing concerns they would be involved in business.
The opposition party urged all parties to monitor the implementation of the law to ensure no further expansion of military roles, Siahaan said.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Gibran Peshimam.)
