N

ational Police chief Tito Karnavian said on Friday that the involvement of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in counterterrorism needed to be carefully examined due to public concern over potential human rights violations.

“This needs to be addressed and understood well because it involves huge risks,” he said at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

The risks include the possibility of TNI members hurting or possibly killing alleged terrorists without heeding elements of human rights, he added.

“Currently, the doctrine of the TNI, as far as I understand, is kill or be killed,” he said.

Thus, Tito said TNI soldiers needed to know how to handle terrorists who tried to fight back, to avoid taking unnecessary action.

They should also learn proper procedures for handling acts of terror. For instance, during crime scene investigations, the police usually required technical support from a forensic team.

“If the TNI wants to be strong, that means it needs to have its own forensic labs and disaster victim identification [DVI] team,” Tito said, adding that the police already had such skills.

If such suggestions were not implemented correctly, he said, the risk of TNI members abusing their power would be immense.