Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite the absence of clear regulations, pressure is mounting
on the government to disband groups of armed civilians as part of
the attempt to stop continuing violence in the country.
Asmara Nababan, secretary-general of the National Commission on
Human Rights, and Usman Hamid of the National Commission for
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), expressed
pessimism about whether the government would really disband the
armed civilian groups, considering "there are no clear
regulations banning the establishment of these militias."
"We have long been asking the government to issue clear
regulations over these armed civilians as they have the potential
to commit human rights violations.
"Once we proposed to the government that they insert some
articles into the Defense Law or National Police Law banning
civilians from undergoing paramilitary training. But, there's been
no response till now," Asmara said.
Since the downfall of president Soeharto in 1998, various armed
civilian groups have been established, with some being designed to
defend certain political powers or the political interests of
certain groups.
East Timor saw the establishment of pro-Jakarta militias in
1999, which were believed to have been up by the Indonesian
Military (TNI), and which were tasked with "maintaining the
country's integrity amid mounting pressure to let East Timor --
the former Indonesian province -- become an independent
country."
In the same year, then Armed Forces (ABRI) chief Gen. (ret)
Wiranto set up the Pamswakarsa militia group to guard the
People's Consultative Assembly special session.
Members of the militia group then fought with civilians.
Similar consequences have occurred as a result of the security
forces failure to control hard-line militia groups Laskar Jihad
and the Islam Defenders' Front (FPI).
On Monday, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu said
there was no excuse for the existence of armed civilian groups.
Ryamizard was commenting on an earlier statement by
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, who hinted that some armed civilian groups,
believed to be Laskar Jihad and the FPI, were currently
conducting paramilitary training near the capital city of Jakarta.
But, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf was
reluctant to comment on Ryamizard's plan to disarm the armed
civilian groups, saying that "the police could only monitor
them and that's exactly what the police do."
Meanwhile, Usman Hamid demanded that the security authorities
disclose "the reasons why they established armed civilian
groups."
He said that should military officers evade their
responsibilities by merely disbanding the groups, "violence
will continue to exist as other similar groups may be established
in the future."