Discussions On Perpres Involving TNI In Overcoming Terrorism Requested For Transparency

JAKARTA - The Civil Society Coalition for Security Sector Reform has urged the government and the Indonesian Parliament to be transparent in discussing the draft Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on the involvement of the TNI in overcoming acts of terrorism.

This was conveyed by researcher and Director of Imparsial Al Araf in response to the statement of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD who stated that the draft Perpres had been submitted to the Indonesian Parliament.

"We urge the government and the DPR to discuss the draft Perpres openly. Thus it is imperative for the government and the DPR to submit the draft Perpres that has been made to the public," Araf said as quoted in his written statement, Tuesday, August 4.

It is known that the Civil Society Coalition for Security Sector Reform consists of Kontras, Imparsial, Elsam, PBHI, Setara Institute, HRWG, YLBHI, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), LBH Pers, Perludem, LBH Jakarta, Public Virtue Institue, ICJR, Perludem, and Pilnet Indonesia.

Araf said that the draft Presidential Decree which regulates the involvement of the TNI in overcoming the problem of terrorism from the start has indeed generated controversy and opposition from the public. Because, this draft is considered to be threatening the life of democracy and human rights (HAM) because it will give excessive authority to the TNI.

"In that context the government and the DPR should really accommodate public input," he said.

Furthermore, Araf conveyed that there are a number of points that should be contained in the draft Presidential Regulation. According to him, the task of military operations to deal with acts of terrorism must be limited to only serving as a limited action such as dealing with hijacking of planes, ships, and terrorism at representative offices of friendly countries.

TNI, he continued, does not need to have a deterrence and recovery function in handling acts of terrorism. "The provision of deterrence and recovery functions as stipulated in the old draft Presidential Decree is too excessive and threatens the rule of law and human rights," he said.

Next, Araf assessed that the use and deployment of the TNI in handling terrorism should also be based on state political decisions, namely the presidential decision with the consideration of the DPR. Moreover, this is deemed in accordance with Article 7 Paragraph 2 and Paragraph 3 jo. Article 5 of Law Number 34 of 2004 concerning TNI.

"The decision must be made in writing by the President so that it is clear about the intent, purpose, time, budget, number of troops involved," he explained.

In addition, the involvement of the TNI in overcoming acts of terrorism in the country should be the last resort when other law enforcement capacities are unable to cope. This involvement, continued Arad, was also temporary and within a certain period and subject to the prevailing legal and human rights norms.

Thus, the consequence is that all TNI soldiers involved in handling acts of terrorism must comply with the Criminal Procedure Code, the Criminal Code and the Human Rights Law.

Then the problem of budget allocation for the TNI to overcome terrorism, said Araf, must come from the state budget as regulated in Article 66 of the TNI Law. "Funding outside the APBN for the TNI (APBD and others) has accountability problems and creates new budget burdens in regions that are already burdened with the need to develop their respective regions," he said.

Previously, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD stated that even though the pros and cons occurred, the TNI's strength was needed to deal with acts of terrorism in the country. This, according to Mahfud, is the reason for the draft Presidential Decree on the involvement of the TNI in overcoming acts of terrorism.

"These are the pros and cons. The compromise is criminal terrorism, but because many things are not just criminal and legal, it is stated that the TNI can take part in acts of terrorism and the involvement of the TNI is regulated by the Presidential Decree," Mahfud said during a visit to the Marine Headquarters in Cilandak, South Jakarta as quoted from the statement. he wrote, Thursday, July 30.

The former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) said that the draft Perpres is now in the DPR RI and does not deny that when the discussion was being carried out a number of protests emerged from the public.

It's just that he claimed that the protest was over because of the communication process and all parties understood the reason for the government's involvement in the TNI in dealing with acts of terrorism.

"Finally everyone understands. I have been assigned by the President to harmonize. There are only a few that need to be fixed and in a short time the DPR will immediately process it," he said.