Dedy Priatmojo, Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid says that the arrival and intimidation by an Indonesian Military (TNI) officer at a student discussion at the Walisongo Islamic State University (UIN) in Semarang, Central Java, was a serious violation and threatens freedom of assembly, association and opinion as guaranteed by law.
"Campuses are neutral zones that must be free from state intervention, both from the government and security and defence forces such as the TNI", said Hamid in a statement on Wednesday April 16.
Amnesty International is urging the TNI as an institution to investigate the actions of its members so that incidents like this do not happen again. Hamid believes that the actions of the officer who attended the student discussion was a form of intimidation.
"It is very clear that this action constituted intimidation and was not part of the duties of TNI members who are tasked with maintaining the country's defence. Campus discussions are not a threat to the country's sovereignty", he said.
Furthermore, Hamid stated that the actions of the TNI officer confirms public concerns regarding the militarisation of public spaces along with the strong public opposition to revisions to the TNI Law (UU TNI) which were passed by the House of Representatives (DPR) on March 20.
"Campus must be a safe space for critical thinking, discussion and building public awareness. Campuses are not a military operational area that requires the presence of TNI members to guard it under the pretext of monitoring an area", said Hamid.
"This incident also confirms the campus' failure to protect peaceful actions carried out by students", he added.
Earlier it was reported that a student discussion on Monday April 14 at the Walisongo UIN was visited by an unidentified man and a member of the TNI.
At that time, the Walisongo Student Study Group (KSMW) and the Social Theory and Practice Forum (FTPS) were holding a discussion with the theme Fascism Threatens Campus: The Shadow of the Military for Academic Freedom at a venue next to Auditorium 2 on the Walisongo UNI Campus 3.
One of the students said that the event had just started with an introduction session when suddenly an unidentified person appeared and joined the forum.
When asked to introduce himself, the chubby man wearing a black shirt refused. He then chose to leave the forum. The students suspect that he was an intelligence officer.
Campus security officers then arrived and asked several student representatives to meet someone near the event venue. The person was a TNI officer who immediately asked their identities, who the participants at the discussion were and the theme of the discussion.
When this was countered with questions about his purpose there and where he obtained the information from, the TNI member only smiled.
The students were immediately on the alert because the TNI member was seen riding a motorbike with the unidentified person wearing black that attended the forum earlier.
One of the students said the TNI member asked for their personal identification, such as name, residence and semester. He also heard military officers had done a sweep of the area before the event began.
Army (TNI AD) Information Office Head (Kadispenad) Brigadier General Wahyu Yudhayana has denied that his members were at the location to intervene in the discussion activities.
Yudhayana explained that the presence of the TNI member, First Sergeant (Sertu) Rokiman, a village supervisory non-commissioned officer (Babinsa) at the Tambak Aji Village from the Ngaliyan Sub-District Military Command (Koramil), was solely in order to carry out routine duties as a local official.
"Sertu Rokiman's presence was limited to the area in front of the campus and he did not enter the location of the discussion. Babinsa are present around the campus only to monitor the area, because previously there were pamphlets inviting people to a discussion that was open to the public. That is part of a Babinsa's duties in maintaining security and order in the area under their supervision", said the Kadispenad.
He asserted that there was no intervention or attempt in any form to stop the discussion. In fact, Sertu Rokiman did not enter the discussion venue at all, but remained outside the campus.
"Babinsa also never call students out of campus to meet him. This shows that the tasks he carried out were in accordance with his authority and responsibility as a territorial officer", he said.
In relation to an individual who is said to be an intelligence officer in a video that has been circulating (on social media), the TNI AD has confirmed that the individual is not a member of the TNI.
"We emphasise, the person in the video is not one of our members. The presence of Babinsa was only one person, and that was outside the discussion forum", he added.
Notes
Babinsa or Bintara Pembina Desa, are non-commissioned military officers posted in villages and wards and affiliated with the civilian administration. These officers provide a community level presence for TNI's territorial command structure which mandates the deployment of military command posts and detachments at all levels of the civil administration.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Amnesty International soal TNI Cawe-cawe Diskusi Mahasiswa UIN Walisongo: Pelanggaran Serius!".]
