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uman rights watchdog Imparsial has renewed its opposition to a proposal that active military and police personnel be granted the right to contest regional elections without having to resign from active duty.

Imparsial executive director Al Araf insisted that active military and police personnel continue to be obliged to resign their positions if they wanted to run in local elections.

“It should be borne in mind that soldiers and police officers have an esprit de corps. If they remain active officers when contesting regional elections, there’s a risk they’ll exert force in order to swing the vote in their favor,” Al Araf said.

Military and police personnel’s authorization to use weapons could see violence flare up during campaigns, especially if more than one were contesting a given election, he added.

Last week, House of Representatives Commission II overseeing regional affairs held a consultation with the Constitutional Court seeking approval of a revision to the Regional Elections Law. Some commission members spoke in favor of omitting a clause in the proposed revision that requires both House members and active military and police personnel to quit their posts prior to contesting elections; the existing stipulation applies only to military and police personnel.

However, the court maintained that the requirement should equally apply to House legislators.

Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) director of advocacy Bahrain supported the court’s stance, saying that scrapping the clause would contravene universal principles of democracy.

“The police’s duty is to guard ballot boxes during election times. If a candidate came from the police, how could we be sure he wasn’t manipulating the ballots, given that those guarding the boxes are his colleagues?” Bahrain asked.

Equally, he added, House members should resign their seats if they want to run in local elections.

“If you’re already a member of the House, do you really need to be a mayor too?” Bahrain asked, noting that legislators should in theory be of higher caliber than regents or mayors.

Al Araf, on the other hand, said the requirement, while vital for police and military personnel, could be scrapped for House members.

“It’s up to the House itself to decide whether members should be exempt from the clause. The most important thing is that the requirement be imposed strictly on military and police officers,” he said.

“We fought for 32 years to expel the military from political activity. Do they want to go back to the [New Order] era again, when the leadership of the state and key government positions were all held by figures connected with the military?” he asked.

Failure to comply with the requirement, he added, would furthermore contravene laws on the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police. (wnd)