No Need for Regulation on Military Tribunals, Presidential Staffer Says
Jakarta Globe | April 08, 2013
"This is not the time to hold a debate on whether they should be tried by a regular court or a military tribunal," presidential adviser Daniel Sparingga, said in a written statement received by the Jakarta Globe.
The call came following the admission that 11 soldiers with the Indonesian military's Special Forces (Kopassus) were involved in the fatal shooting of four detainees at a Yogyakarta jail during a raid last month.
The Kopassus members stormed Cebongan prison, in Sleman, Yogyakarta, the night of March 23. The special forces members, garbed in face masks and armed with AK-47s and FN Five-Seven pistols, attacked the prison's two wardens and threatened to detonate grenades in the jail.
They then rounded up and executed four detainees awaiting trial for the murder of Kopassus member First Sgt. Heru Santosa. Heru was fatally stabbed during a brawl at Sleman's Cafe Hugos.
Daniel said that the main focus should be to unveil the case and its chronology, identify all responsible parties, gather evidence and witnesses and make sure that no details escape the law.
"The other priority is to ascertain that there will be a transparent trial in front of the public and ensure that the trial mechanism is in line with the prevailing laws," he said.
He advised that the public should proactively monitor and supervise the trial.
Calls have been mounting for the president to issue a regulation to allow the 11 soldiers to be tried in a regular court rather than in a military tribunal, which is considered far less transparent.
The Setara Institute, a leading human rights advocacy group, said it was high time that members of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) who engage in crimes be tried before a civilian court.
"Trying the 11 perpetrators before a military tribunal will not meet the public's sense of justice, since such tribunals are not transparent and not accountable," the organization said.
Daniel suggested that if the public was dissatisfied with the mechanism of justice, they should take up the issue with their representatives and demand that the problem be addressed.
"Open a debate and don't make a habit of using regulations as a shortcut in a case that is already governed by the law," he stated.
"A regulation is only relevant when we are facing a legal vacuum or there is an emergency," Daniel added.
In the past, Setara argued, military tribunals handed down lighter sentences compared to those issued by state courts for similar offenses by civilians.
The organization said that a regulation would "make it possible for members of the TNI to be tried in a civilian courtroom over crimes perpetrated beyond their official duties."
"Without this, the results of investigations will be anticlimactic and [the sentences will] not serve justice," Setara added.
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