International Humanitarian Law Review on the Involvement of the Indonesian National Military (TNI) in Combating Terrorism

Abstract

Changes in the international humanitarian legal system in a global context have shifted, as the first war identified with an inter-state ceasefire. Today, the war party is not only a state but also the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy marked by non-state war actors, a terrorist attack. Terrorism has become an increasingly serious concern in Indonesia since the Bali Bombings and other, consequent terrorist tragedies. TNI discourses regarding their involvement in eradicating terrorism in Indonesia have manifested in the formation of the Anti-Terrorism Act. According to the issue, the research problems are: (1) TNI's authority to combat terrorism in the Indonesian legal system; (2) the IHL system that regulates the military’s involvement in combating terrorism. This research uses a statute and conceptual approach. This study finds that: (1) after the fall of the New Order regime in 1998, the dual function of ABRI (Indonesian Armed Forces during Suharto's era) had dissolved, and this implied the limited authority of TNI to maintain the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) sovereignty at the border. Act No.34, 2004 section 7 article (3) about TNI, mentions that the fight against terrorism deals with criminal methods. Except for war aggression related to terrorism that threatens the State sovereignty and not against terrorism in the community on the Anti-Terrorism Act. Suppose TNI wants to be involved in combating terrorism. In that case, it must be following the 1945 constitution, of which terrorism is part of non-international armed conflict, in which the power of command is in the hands of the President.