Indonesia not to allow military to vote in polls

JAKARTA - Indonesian Defense Ministry has said that military personnel and police will not be allowed to vote in 2014 elections because the country's political infrastructure remains too fragile to allow service men to participate in politics, the Jakarta Globe reported on Monday.

Brig. General Hartind Asrin, defense ministry spokesman, said that with the current level of democratic maturity, it was still too risky for military and police personnel to vote or be nominated in polls.

"If we went to the elections now, the country would fall apart immediately," he said, adding that there could be a civil war if military and police troops came to blows over different political views.

The military consists of some 400,000 soldiers supported by some 60,000 civil servants, while the police force consists of 408,000 officers supported by some 30,000 civil servants, Hartind said.

Their family members are allowed to vote, as are retired officers, but as long as officers are still wearing their uniforms, they cannot vote or run for any political offices, he said.  

Yunarto Wijaya, director of research at Charta Politica, shared his view on the issue.  

Wijaya said that there were two prerequisites for the military and police to vote, the first is that political parties must be mature, and the second is that society must be rational. He added that even today, primitive sentiments are spoiling local elections across the archipelago.    

Indonesia is to have direct presidential and legislative polls in 2014.