Discourse: TNI reforms and respect for rights have come a long way: Minister

Erwida Maulia and Novan Iman Santosa

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta 

The Defense Ministry last week celebrated the first anniversary of the Indonesia Defense University (Unhan).Although the name is barely familiar to the public, the ministry appears to have high expectations of the new institution, hoping it plays a part in reforming the military, which has been plagued by accusations of human rights abuses in the past, and to help the country’s defense sector cope with future challenges. Defense MinisterPurnomo Yusgiantoro shared more about the issues with The Jakarta Post’s Erwida Maulia and Novan Iman Santosa on the sidelines of the anniversary commemoration. Here are the excerpts:

Question:  How far do you actually expect Unhan to help the country’s defense sector cope with future challenges?

Answer: Unhan is an implementation of reform at the Indonesian Military (TNI), especially with regards to the relationship between civilians and the military. Unhan was established a year ago as we saw a need to produce people who fully understand the country‘s defense matters. 
We lack people like this, experts in the field. We can of course turn military officers into military experts, but we also need those working at the National Development Planning Board, the Finance Ministry and the State-owned Enterprises Ministry to understand defense matters. They will all, at some point, get involved in the defense sector, especially as we now also face non-military threats, such as political and economic problems, which can be bigger than military threats.  
So we need to develop capable people who will occupy important positions in the country’s defense sector.

We will this year roll out defense economics and disaster management programs. This is also a way to answer the growing complexity of future challenges.

The fact that the university has both civilian and military students is another sign of military reform. We expect the institute to be a joint forum to improve the civilian-military relationship.

What about within the TNI itself? What kind of reform measures have you been taking?

Knowledge of human rights issues has actually been incorporated into the curriculum of the Staff and Command College. More interestingly, and this is visible, we can see in the Army’s Special Forces Command (Kopassus) how human rights knowledge is being taught and practiced, how soldiers distinguish non-combatants from combatants. Kopassus officers drill themselves on this. Also in the Staff and Command College are exercises to document human rights requirements in the legal requisites to an operation order.

Today a commander must clearly understand that the military operation he heads will not violate human rights and humanitarian laws. Before launching an operation, a commander must issues an operation order complete with logistics and other attachments, including a legal attachment. This is mandatory.

Last year, junior officers from 12 military commands were trained on human rights and humanitarian law. The Army, Navy and Air Force simultaneously organized such training, too. Two years ago, the Defense Ministry trained 500 officers on the same issue. Feel free to test their knowledge of human rights so you don’t doubt them in the future.

We’ve cascaded this from top to bottom. Field commanders now clearly understand human rights principles and whether the measures they take would violate human rights.

Also the Defense Ministry and the TNI will now take serious measures against those committing rights abuses. If a soldier is found to have committed genocide or other crimes against humanity, we will not hesitate to punish them accordingly. They will be removed from their position in the military, suspended and questioned according to existing legal processes.

Those found guilty of committing gross rights abuses will be brought before a civilian court. This is the military’s commitment to respecting civil authorities, and it has to be done transparently and accountably. The TNI has for too long been seen as an opaque and secretive organization.     

Past human rights issues have affected our military relationship with other countries including the US. You claim they have acknowledged our reform process.

From our point of view, we no longer feel that we’re in trouble. We’ve fulfilled the principles of reform set out 10 years ago. As an example, there is now no longer a TNI wing at the House of Representatives. We’ve also grown professionally. The 2004 TNI Law and the 2002 National Defense Law clearly affirm that we have to comply with principles of human rights and professionalism. In fact since 2000 we’ve endorsed 12 laws addressing rights issues.

Countries including Norway and Canada have acknowledged the advances we’ve made in addressing rights issues. There is a human rights watchdog in Norway tracking rights records all over the world and it recognizes our progress.  

The TNI and Defense Ministry have also worked with the Justice and Human Rights Ministry and the Foreign Ministry to support human rights. We have joint activities under the umbrella of human rights, which we call national action plans on human rights. We’ve also earned recognition from the UN Human Rights Council on our extraordinary progress.

Recently the International Federation of the Red Cross commented positively on the conditions at our military prisons in Cimahi, West Java. Apparently they believe we treat our prisoners more humanely than the US, which has been reprimanded for the inhumane way they treat their prisoners.

First published on The Jakarta Post on Monday, March 22, 2010