T

he Indonesian Military (TNI) has promised that military tribunals trying personnel taken to court for civil crimes will be transparent and open to the public.

TNI Chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said on Wednesday that the military would allow the public to scrutinize the trials, especially if the cases being heard involved military personnel and civilians.

'€œI will issue an order stipulating that incidents involving the TNI and civilians will result in an open military tribunal that will allow the public to see it [the judicial process] for themselves,'€ Gatot said at the State Palace on Wednesday.

There has been a renewed call for transparent tribunals following the arrest of a soldier, identified as Second Sgt. Yoyok Hadi, for allegedly shooting dead a man in Cibinong, West Java, last week after the victim'€™s motorcycle hit his car.

Yoyok is currently being detained at the Bogor Military Police detention center while his case is being investigated.

Responding to the shooting incident, Gatot said Yoyok could face the additional punishment of being dismissed from the Army. '€œI never comment on sanctions, but I can assure you that there is the additional sanction of dismissal. While the legal sanctions will be determined in a trial and after the investigation has wrapped up,'€ he said.

This is not the first time the TNI has pledged open tribunals for criminal cases involving its personnel.

In the trial of the Army'€™s Special Forces (Kopassus) personnel, who were accused of murdering four detainees at a prison in Sleman, Yogyakarta, in 2013 the TNI opened the proceedings to the public.

The Cibinong shooting caused outrage with many calling for the TNI to monitor the use of its weapons against civilians and an end to the culture of impunity.

'€œMilitary personnel enjoy their impunity and exclusive access to their own courts. They only receive light punishments for their mistakes and the trial process is not transparent,'€ Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Haris Azhar said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He urged the government to revise Law No. 31/1997 on military tribunals to allow military personnel to be tried in civilian courts for civil crimes so that the victims'€™ families could witness the process.

The planned amendment to the law, however, has been put on the backburner as the House of Representatives said that such a revision was not high on its priority list.

'€œWe think the TNI has enough regulations and so far they'€™ve made good progress in imposing severe punishments on their personnel,'€ Mahfudz Siddiq, the chairman of House Commission I overseeing foreign affairs and defense told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said it was unlikely the House would revise the Military Tribunal Law because lawmakers were preoccupied with discussing the reserve component bill and the revision of Law No. 34/2004 on the military.

'€œFor me Law No. 31/1997 on military tribunals is enough. What is very important now, the military courts should try to be more transparent and accountable if the case relates to violence against civilians,'€ Mahfud said.

Mahfudz said he was confident that the TNI would get tough on personnel arrested for committing civil crimes. He added that once the trial started, military prosecutors or judges at the tribunal could opt to use the Military Code (KUHPM) or the Criminal Code (KUHP).

'€œThis is about goodwill by the military institution,'€ Mahfudz said.

Also making the news last week was the arrest of two military personnel, Lieut. Col. Wahid Wahyudi and Sgt. Maj. Safril Irawan who were alleged to have operated as drug dealers for nightclubs in Jakarta. The two TNI personnel were arrested during a raid when the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) seized 1,000 ecstasy pills, an FN pistol, a replica firearm and a military bayonet.

Wahid suffered a gunshot wound during the raid.

TNI spokesperson Maj. Gen. Tatang Sulaiman said the TNI would impose severe punishments on personnel arrested for selling and using drugs. He said the punishment could range from administrative penalties to dismissal.
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