Indonesia parliament passes contentious amendments to military law

(This March 20 story has been corrected to say that soldiers do not have to resign before taking up civilian posts in the Attorney General's office, in paragraph 6)

By Stefanno Sulaiman and Ananda Teresia

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's parliament passed revisions to the country's military law on Thursday, allocating more civilian posts for military officers as hundreds of students and activists protested against the legislation.

The revisions have been criticised by civil society groups, who say it could take the world's third-biggest democracy back to the draconian 'New Order' era of former strongman president Suharto, when military officers dominated civilian affairs.

Speaker Puan Maharani led the unanimous vote in a plenary council and officially passed the law, saying that it was in accordance with the principles of democracy, human rights and civil supremacy.

President Prabowo Subianto, who took office last October and was a special forces commander under Suharto, has been expanding the armed forces' role into what were considered civilian areas, including his flagship programme of free meals for children.

Rights groups have criticised the increased military involvement because they fear it may lead to abuses of power, human rights violations and impunity from consequences for actions.

The government has said the bill requires officers to resign from the military before assuming civilian posts. One of the departments they do not have to resign from before joining is the Attorney General's Office.

There were concerns that officers could be allowed to join state-owned businesses but that aspect of the law was not revised, lawmaker Nico Siahaan, who was involved in talks on the legislation, told Reuters.

Evan Laksmana, an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the law does not address problems faced by the Indonesian military, such as adding resources for training and standardisation of military hardware.

The revisions also extend the retirement age of officers, which Evan said could reduce professionalism among soldiers as prospects for promotion would be squeezed.

PROTESTS

Hundreds of students rallied outside the parliamentary building in Jakarta following the passage of the revisions. Dozens of them burned tires and some jostled their way through the gates, television footage showed.

Activists brought signs that read "New Order Strikes Back" and "Take the military back to the barracks".

Usman Hamid, the head of Amnesty International in Indonesia and who protested against Suharto during the New Order era, warned of the past returning.

"Activists were kidnapped and some have not returned home. And today it feels like we're going backwards," he said.

Some students had camped at the back gate of parliamentary building since Wednesday evening, demanding the government pull out all military personnel from civilian jobs.

Police officers forced them to leave the building but they refused, one protester who declined to be named told Reuters.

Military personnel were called in for security in the parliamentary building to assist police.

"The geopolitical changes and global military technology require the military to transform ... to face conventional and non conventional conflicts," Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told parliament, while defending the revised law although he did not give any specifics.

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia and Stefanno Sulaiman, Writing by Stanley Widianto and Gibran Peshimam; Editing by John Mair and Michael Perry)