T

he manner in which presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto was discharged from the military in 1998 has become the subject of contention as the election campaign intensifies. Documents by the Officers Honorary Council (DKP) recommending Prabowo'€™s dismissal, leaked by the military, have put the issue in a clearer perspective.

This debate could have been prevented had the General Elections Commission (KPU) done a better job scrutinizing Prabowo'€™s military records. If it had access to these documents, they probably should have disqualified him. As it is, Prabowo is a legitimate candidate for the July 9 race, but this should not stop the public from finding out more about his military past, which the KPU failed to disclose.

The right to know is guaranteed by the 2008 Access to Public Information Law. Prabowo'€™s military records, including the circumstances of his dismissal, are matters of public interest and concern since he is a presidential contender.

The Prabowo camp has claimed that he acted '€œvaliantly'€ by resigning from the military to take moral responsibility for the kidnapping of dozens of activists opposed to the Soeharto regime in 1998. A military tribunal found fault with a team from the Army'€™s Special Forces (Kopassus) but cleared Prabowo, then commandant-general of the elite unit, of any role.

The leaked documents, however, suggest that Prabowo was dismissed from the military for insubordination. One honorary council member, Agum Gumelar, has come out in public saying it would have asked for a harsher penalty, were it not for the fact that Prabowo was at the time former president Soeharto'€™s son-in-law. The council recommended dismissal with honors, although as any good officer knows, there is nothing honorary about insubordination in the military.

Agum said that several years later, Prabowo confided in him about his contempt for rules and procedures because he took his orders straight from Soeharto, the supreme commander of the military.

In Monday'€™s presidential debate, when answering questions about his human rights record, Prabowo said he was an officer who carried out his duties, and that protecting the people from enemies of the state was his primary concern. He said if anyone wanted to know more about his precise duties then, they should ask his superior. Now, we understand he must have been referring to president and erstwhile father-in-law Soeharto, who is dead and thus unable to tell us anything.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, also a member of the honorary council, has vouched for the validity of the leaked documents. His spokesman said the President had demanded an investigation into how the documents had gone viral. Irrespective of who leaked the documents, the circumstances of Prabowo'€™s dismissal should be disclosed fully. The Prabowo camp should take the lion'€™s share of the blame for not fully revealing the information and instead engaging in lies and deceptions about his military past.

If a person has a track record of insubordination, what kind of a president would he make? Would Prabowo play by the democratic rules of the game or would he, once again, show contempt for rules and procedures?