REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Commission I of the House of Representatives is monitoring the ongoing military (TNI) exercise in Poso, Central Sulawesi, to ensure that it is carried out within the ambit of existing laws.
"We will monitor what is going on in Poso. As long as no law is broken, we will accept it," Deputy Chairman of Commission I Hanafi Rais said at the parliament building here on Tuesday.
He added that monitoring was needed to ensure that the training being given to the swift reaction attack unit (PPRC) remains within the legal corridor and does not turn into operations the public fears, such as a military emergency operation and the creation of a military operation zone.
Commission I will ensure that the TNI only conducts a war exercise for the purpose of maintaining order if necessary in the future, Rais affirmed.
"If other activities happen in Poso, we will hold a meeting with the TNI commander and ask him for a clarification," he stated.
The deputy chairman of Commission I further noted that Poso was chosen as the location for the PPRC exercise because it used to be the base of the Santoso armed group.
However, Rais pointed out that terrorism was a police-related issue, whereas the TNI dealt with separatism. So this categorization must be maintained in the field.
"We believe terrorism is a police affair, while separatism is that of the TNI. We wish to maintain this difference in the field," he remarked.
Moreover, TNI Commander General Moeldoko said that the large-scale exercise was being held as a precaution in case of the emergence of radical groups in Indonesia.
"I saw that the radical group is living comfortably in Poso. I am afraid those who went to Iraq and Syria will return and stay in Poso. In view of that, the TNI is carrying out a large-scale exercise there," he added.
The exercise was deliberately organized as part of precautionary measures being taken by the government against terrorism, following recent reports of a number of citizens joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Besides being a preventative step against the ISIS development, the military exercise in Poso is also aimed at capturing the terror group led by Santoso in Central Sulawesi.
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