Nicholas Ryan Aditya, Ardito Ramadhan, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) believes that the involvement of the TNI (Indonesian Military) in the government's free nutritious meals (MBG) program is illegal.
Kontras Coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya said that there is no regulation governing the involvement of the TNI in government policies under the TNI Law, especially regarding military operations other than war.
"Since their involvement, or the military jumping into efforts to conduct supervision and also security in national strategic projects, even in the free nutritious meals programs, we have not been able to justify the involvement of the TNI based on the TNI Law", Arya said at the Kontras offices in Central Jakarta on Monday January 20.
"Meaning, we can conclude that moves to involve the TNI in a number of state policies, in a number of state projects, it is a policy or operation that is illegal because it is not based on the provisions in the TNI Law", he said.
Arya then explained the contents of the TNI Law, especially under Article 7 Paragraph 3, which regulates the involvement of the TNI in the context of military operations and military operations other than war. According to Arya however, in the context of military operations other than war, there needs to be a political decision and legal provisions to legalise this.
"There is a need for a political decision and legal provisions which are issued through a presidential decision, regulation or instruction so that it can be a legal justification and regulation, so that it can be a reference in the process of military deployment", Arya said.
He believes that the free nutritious meals program shows the most glaring involvement of the TNI in President Prabowo Subianto's administration. In the absence of regulations regarding the involvement of the TNI, Kontras believes that there is an effort to revive the TNI role in public life or space.
"It also indicates that this is a form of, or effort that is very, very systematic, to then be able to involve the TNI in public life or space again. Although then in the end it is also contrary to existing regulations", Arya said.
The government has involved the TNI in supporting the free nutritious meals programs throughout Indonesia.
TNI Information Centre head (Kapuspen) Major General Hariyanto has said that the TNI is involved in overseeing and evaluating the progress of the free nutritional meals program which began on January 6. This is only one of the three main task the TNI is involved in.
"(The three tasks of the TNI) is monitoring and evaluating. TNI personnel will also help ensure the program runs smoothly according to the government's target", Hariyanto told reporters on Tuesday January 7.
In addition to monitoring and evaluation, the TNI is also tasked with facilitating logistics in the implementation of free nutritious meals programs.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Kontras Anggap Keterlibatan TNI dalam Makan Bergizi Gratis Ilegal".]
