Never Sacrifice People in Security
The Concept of Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) Internal Reform of 1998 fundamentally changed the understanding of security from the output of the security apparatus to that of the civilian system.
The Concept of Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) Internal Reform of 1998 fundamentally changed the understanding of security from the output of the security apparatus to that of the civilian system.
Therefore, if any security problem arises, it is first settled by civilian means and personnel, including members of the National Police (Polri). However, when civilians including, Polri, and civilian methods fail or are certain to fail or to claim lives even if only one, then the handling of security becomes the task of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and is executed by military methods.
The logical consequence of this security concept is that Polri was separated from the TNI and later Polri became part of the Law and Justice System, provisionally put under the Defense and Security Department (now Defense Ministry), but in the future it may shift to the Home Ministry or directly under the Law and Human Rights Ministry. (The ABRI Internal Reform Concept worked out by the Formulation Team under Maj. Gen. Agus Wirahadi Kusumah formed by Military Commander Gen. Wiranto was later archived at the TNI Headquarters and also kept at the National Archives).
Deviation from state’s aims
This understanding of security certainly stems from science, the validity of its truth has been universally proven as applied to all democratic countries. Besides, it also originates in sunatullah (law of nature), in which the human body is known to possess two kinds of blood: the red blood has the role of distributing nutrients, water and oxygen in an equitable way to thousands of trillions of cells, and the white blood is in charge of destroying germs, bacteria, viruses and other maladies. In the management of the state there is also civil supremacy (civility) and military supremacy, in which an order is the law as is the case with the pair of the red blood and white blood in our body.
Finally there has been confusion in the regulation of security handling as contained in several laws.
Our regulation of security deviates from the aims of establishing the state. The perception of security in the version of the Constitution resulting from four amendments is formulated by dividing the function of defense and security into two: defense is the task of the TNI and security the task of Polri, making the two seemingly separated from each other. Finally there has been confusion in the regulation of security handling as contained in several laws.
In the TNI Law, for instance, the President’s authority to deploy the TNI is stipulated on the condition of the approval of the House of Representatives (DPR). This norm can create a crucial problem when under certain circumstances the President fails to secure DPR approval. It means that the state’s sovereignty and people’s safety have the potential to be sacrificed just because of the law providing the regulation.
Likewise, in the Polri Law, how is it possible to task Polri with handling all security issues? Then what happens if the police have to face armed people, although small in number but belong to the category of “combatants”? Isn’t it true that in democratic countries, police firearms are merely used to paralyze criminals, not in the least to kill enemies like those used by the military? In fact, in the New Order era itself, the security handled by Polri was kamtibmas (public security and order), rather then security in its general sense that belongs to state duty.
Lastly the ludicrous concept of military operation has emerged, in which the TNI assists Polri to overcome security problems in the form of military operation. It means that the fall of victims on both TNI and Polri sides in handling security as has repeatedly occurred lately was just the result of vain rules. Isn’t the phasing of a military operation to reach the point where two groups are standing face to face in a battle, a long process that’s impossible for Polri to handle?
Even more pointless is when the condition encountered by Polri is already “chaotic”, the TNI is invited to help Polri. Then what’s the formula that won’t cause the fall of TNI soldiers? Actually, even with Unity of Command where all phases of a military operation are in a single hand, there may still be victims.
How unfortunate is the TNI as law makers so consciously place it in a military operation that for TNI soldiers is a matter of life and death, in the manner of children’s hide-and-seek game. When victims are falling in which our soldiers lose their lives and leave their families without anything to bequeath, it’s enough to describe the condition as the risk of their profession as well as destiny determined by God with heaven as their reward.
Urgency of TNI involvement regulation
Confusion due to the rules on security also occurs in dealing with acts of terrorism. In is true that by Law No.5/2018 the TNI is tasked with overcoming terrorist acts against the President/Vice President and state guests of the rank of head of state/head of government, vital national strategic objects, foreign vessels and aircraft in Indonesia, and several other objects of terrorist acts. It should be regretted that a presidential regulation concerning the involvement of the TNI in surmounting terrorist acts as stipulated in the Antiterrorism Law has not yet been issued to date.
Just in case there is a terrorist act against one of the eight objects of terrorism specified in the law, the TNI is required by the law to overcome it. What happens if under certain conditions the President gets no DPR approval as demanded by the TNI Law? In fact, the President in the face of this terrorist act only has the sole alternative of deploying the TNI. If the TNI succeeds, praises from domestic and foreign circles will surely go to the TNI and the President. But if the reverse is true, in which the TNI fails, let alone the lives claimed, this case will be a “boomerang”, especially for the President, because the breach of the law by the President is evident and undeniable.
National security Perppu as solution
Whether or not realized, the present Antiterrorism Law is discriminative and at the same time deviates fundamentally from the aims of establishing the state, one of which is to protect the entire nation. The basic problem: is it because the President and foreign diplomats are VIPs and or because objects of terrorist acts have high rupiah values that the TNI is assigned to overcome them?
Who can guarantee that the common people as hostage won’t first be made victims as Polri fail to deal with the crime?
Meanwhile, if would-be victims are common people, it is sufficient to be handled only by Polri. Then there’s the question of a terrorist act in which ordinary people are held hostage, for instance, with a calculable development that it is impossible for Polri to surmount. Who can guarantee that the common people as hostage won’t first be made victims as Polri fail to deal with the crime? It’s an irony that the law has been made just with discriminative treatment of its own people.
With the persistent “tug of war” in the process of issuing the presidential regulation on the TNI’s involvement in overcoming acts of terrorism, it can be protracted for an indefinite period. On the other hand, the process of proposing the Security Bill also undergoes a “stagnation”. So, in the name of emergency due to confusion and legal vacuum, the President should promptly issue a Regulation in lieu of Law (Perppu) on National Security, in order to straighten out the legal muddle caused by the relevant laws on the TNI and Polri in dealing with security and terrorist acts.
The Perppu at the same time also serves to “limit” the presence of Polri with all the roles and “privileges” that lately have tended to replace the position of the Army like the model of the New Order period, hopefully to bring to a halt.
Long live the TNI!
Saurip Kadi, Maj. Gen (Ret.); Former Deputy Chairman, Team for Formulation of ABRI Internal Reform Concept of 1998