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Three obstacles to reform will arise if SBY becomes president

Detik.com - April 16, 2004

Astrid Felicia Lim, Jakarta – If SBY [recently resigned coordinating minister for politics and security Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and presidential candidate for the military backed Democratic Party) becomes president, then responsibility for the military operation in Aceh, the investigation of human rights violations and reform of the military will be obstructed.

“It is doubtful he can control the military. This is related to his background which is also a military one”, said the director of Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) Munir, following a public discussion titled “The post-election political configuration and its implications for democracy” at the national offices of the Islamic mass organisation Muhammadiyah in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Friday April 16.

Munir explained that the first obstacle was that there is no responsibility being taken for the military operation in Aceh. Because of this any evaluation [of the success or failure of the operation] will encounter serious difficulties. This is caused by the fact that the ability of law enforcement agencies to conduct investigations is absolutely dependent on the president.

“I doubt that there will be a follow-up evaluation on martial law in Aceh if SBY becomes president. Except if prior to the presidential elections SBY demonstrates a clear position on the question”, said Munir.

The second obstacle he continued, was past human rights violation which are difficult to bring to before the justice system. Basically to bring a case of human rights violations before the courts it must be trough a presidential decree.

“So, these investigations will come up against the obstacle of the presidential decree. Except if SBY demonstrates a clear position on this question”, repeated Munir.

The third obstacle he said was the issue of military reform. This is because SBY will be a representative of the civilian government but as a member of the civilian government he will certainly come under political pressure from the military.

“And the most likely way to reduces this pressure is for him to slow down [the pace of] military reform, so that it will not be clear where the TNI’s [armed forces] is positioned”, predicted Munir. (sss)

[Translated by James Balowski.]