3 Comments on “Demilitarization And Its Discontents”

1. David Says:
   February 2nd, 2009 at 8:38 pm

   Interesting read, although I think they’re looking at things in a kind of odd way, on the one hand they’ve got the military’s general role in politics and then they’re looking at conflict zones, where it’s inevitable there’s going to be a lot of military involvement….might have been more interesting to look closely at the military’s role in politics in peaceful areas, and try to see whether things have really changed much on the ground since Suharto – although, bearing in mind that Suharto’s rule was not a “military dictatorship”, some of top brass were often infuriated with him and thought they were being pushed further and further out of power, but….still the interesting question is whether things have changed much at all.

2. Burung Koel Says:
   February 3rd, 2009 at 4:22 am

   Yes, I was struck by the odd approach – case studies of three ‘ethnic’ conflicts and then trying to generalise to the broader national picture. However I thought the paper brought out the tension between elements of the military in moving to a role with less involvement in regional politics. I suspect it will not be an easy or simple transition. As the paper points out, there has never really been what you could call ‘civilian control’ of the military at any point in Indonesia’s history.

3. Chris Says:
   February 11th, 2009 at 10:05 am

   I agree that the practise of drawing broader conclusions from three special cases is odd. The research also seems outdated.

   I think this has led to conclusions that are outdated (certainly in the case of Aceh)

   The fact that military officers must retire/resign prior to holding political positions is a testament to the depth of reform not an indication of difficulties in the process. The likes of SBY, Sutiyoso, Agum Gumelar etc may be ex Generals but they are hardly puppets of the military and have proven to be reasonably able civilian administrators/ politicians.

   A number of other significant bills that limit the military are currently in process:

   i) Handover of military businesses to civilian control.
   ii) Jurisdiction of civilian courts over off duty military personnel.

   In other large states with a history of militarisation (Pakistan, Turkey, Thailand) such bold reform steps would not even be under serious discussion for fear of a coup.

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