Jakarta, Indonesia – When Robertus Robet, a human rights activist, joined the student protests to topple Indonesian dictator Suharto two decades ago, he sang a song criticising the military without getting into trouble.

Earlier this year, Robet sang the song again to show his opposition to president Joko Widodo’s decision to allow active military officers to take jobs in government ministries. He was duly arrested.

“No one was offended when I sang the song before,” Robet told Al Jazeera. “I said in my speech I have nothing against the plan. Yes, they can [get jobs in the administration], but first, they have to retire.” 

The Indonesian military, commonly known by the acronym TNI (Tentara Nasional Indonesia), was forced to reform after the fall of Suharto, losing the seats it held in the national parliament during the authoritarian’s 30 years in power.

It also had to give up its dual role – to defend the country, but also to enmesh itself in poltical life across the archipelago.

Banned formally from politics since 2004, neither the soldiers nor the police are allowed to vote.

But even with the legal restrictions, the generals remain a powerful force.

Joko Widodo, the former mayor of Solo who became president in 2014, was the first Indonesian leader to come from outside the traditional elite. While he pitched himself as a democrat reformist, he has come increasingly close to the military.

“He has built up a personal network of trusted officers who had worked with him since early in his political career,” Antonius Made Tony Supriatma, a visiting fellow in the Indonesian Studies Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, wrote in a paper.

“No doubt, despite the military being banned from politics, Jokowi [Widodo] knows full well that the armed forces are still the most important political player in Indonesia.”

Confidantes

Two of Widodo’s most-trusted advisers are former generals.

Luhut Binsar Panjaitan served in the country’s special forces for more than 20 years, while AM Hendropriyono was also in the special forces and headed the intelligence agency in 2004 when Indonesia’s most prominent human rights activist Munir was killed.

The administration of Widodo’s predecessor said Hendropriyono had no connection with the death of Munir, who was poisoned with arsenic on a flight to Europe.

Both men’s sons-in-law have also enjoyed a rapid rise up the ranks during Widodo’s time in office.

The president also appointed former army chief Wiranto to his administration in 2016, giving him the job of Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Minister.

Wiranto was indicted by the United Nations for “crimes against humanity” relating to more than 1,000 deaths during East Timor’s bloody 1999 independence vote. He has denied wrongdoing.

Try Sutrisno, meanwhile, who was Suharto’s vice president and was also accused of abuses in East Timor, has endorsed Widodo for a second term.

“Our society is stumbling when it comes to spelling out the narrative of civilian and military,” said Puri Kencana Putri, a human rights activist who works on military and human rights issues.

“[We have] failed to guard the reform agenda, including to revoke the ‘dual function’ of the military.”

Over the past few years, Widodo has sought to address the surplus of middle and senior officers caused by the abolition of that dual function.

In 2017, about 141 TNI generals and 790 TNI colonels – each representing about a fifth of the total – had no formal position, according to Supriatma.

The proposal to allow 60 to take up jobs in the civilian administration without having to retire, as well as the creation of new units and commands, is part of an effort to address the imbalance.

But Evan Laksmana, a senior researcher with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, said the proposal is merely a stop-gap that does not resolve the problem of officer promotional logjams.

“It is a regressive public and military policy,” he said.

The military has also been getting more involved with the country’s development, in the kind of national infrastructure initiatives and village-based projects that were a hallmark of the Suharto era.

In its 2018 annual report, the Agrarian Reform Consortium, an NGO, said 41 people were killed, 51 shot and 546 tortured as a result of conflicts over land during Widodo’s first term. The report also claimed that the military and police were working with the government and companies.

In Nduga, West Papua, thousands have been forced to flee amid a military offensive that followed last December’s massacre of construction workers by independence fighters. NGOs on the ground accuse the military of harassing local villagers and destroying houses and churches.

The TNI spokesman in Papua earlier this month described the allegations as “hoax” and said its troops were committed to upholding the Geneva Conventions.

“He [Widodo] failed to make the military more professional,” said Puri.

Widodo’s challenger in the April 17 poll, Prabowo Subianto, is also a former general, implicated in the abduction of pro-democracy activists in May 1998.  

Prabowo was a loyalist of Suharto and former commander of the Army Strategic Command (Kostrad), and has built a campaign based on nationalism and conservatism, aligning himself with Islamic political parties including the Prosperous Justice Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

PAN is linked to Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organisation.

Prabowo hopes to capitalise on recent surveys, including Charta Politika and Lembaga Survei Indonesia (LSI), that suggest Indonesians now see the TNI is the most trusted institution in the country.

Nevertheless, some people are sceptical.

“The younger generation have begun to care about military history in Indonesia and the impact on their everyday life,” said Nisrina Nadhifah Rahman, who works with The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras). 

“They began to believe that the military (had) gained more power.”

Robet’s arrest triggered a public outcry. He was charged with online criminal defamation and for insulting an authority or a public institution. 

Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director Usman Hamid said the charges were a “blatant” attempt to silence criticism.

“[Robet] is an academic who is guilty of nothing more than voicing his views over proposals to place senior military officers in positions of power within the government,” said Usman.

Robet remains undaunted.

“Jokowi is [the leader] of a civilian government,” said Robet. “He must not sacrifice civilian supremacy only for the pragmatic interests of the election. 

“This is also a warning for Prabowo. If he wants to restore the style of the military, the structure of the TNI, the military ideology in the midst of our democratic life, he will face us again.”

US President Donald Trump and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in agreed on Thursday on the importance of nuclear talks with North Korea, but the two leaders aren’t completely aligned on whether sanctions will pressure Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons or drive him away from the negotiating table.

Trump, in his first meeting with Moon since the unsuccessful US summit with Kim in Hanoi, said the US wants to keep economic sanctions in place to pressure Kim to denuclearise. But Trump said he retains good relations with Kim and didn’t rule out a third summit or taking steps to ease food or other shortages in the repressive nation.

“We want sanctions to remain in place,” Trump said at the White House. “I think that sanctions right now are at a level that’s a fair level.”

Moon, for his part, has called for an easing of sanctions, including those holding back joint economic projects between North and South Korea. But he didn’t speak to the sanctions issue as he and Trump spoke with reporters at the start of their talks.

Moon’s top nuclear envoy Lee Do-hoon said on Friday that sanctions were necessary to deter North Korea from “making bad decisions” but could not solve all unresolved problems.

Trump said he would favour easing those sanctions at the right time but added, “This isn’t the right time.” He said he was open to discussing smaller steps, such as helping to ease North Korea’s humanitarian problems, but that, in general, the US wants sanctions to remain.

“There are various smaller deals that maybe could happen,” Trump said. 

“You could work out step-by-step pieces, but at this moment, we’re talking about the big deal. The big deal is we have to get rid of the nuclear weapons.”

Negotiations on Pyongyang’s nuclear programme appear to be stalled, and there is uncertainty over whether Kim is considering backing out of talks or restarting nuclear and missile tests. The Korean Central News Agency on Thursday said that at a party meeting on Wednesday, Kim stressed “self-reliance” in his country to “deal a telling blow to the hostile forces” that “go with bloodshot eyes miscalculating that sanctions can bring” North Korea “to its knees”.

Push for another summit

Trump and Moon discussed the possibility of the South Korean leader having an inter-Korean summit with Kim soon as a way to boost dialogue between the US and North Korea on denuclearisation. 

Kim and Moon met three times last year and Kim promised to visit South Korea in return for the South Korean leader’s visit to Pyongyang in September. 

A South Korean statement issued after the meeting, which included a working lunch, said Moon told Trump he will push to hold another summit soon with Kim.

“The two presidents agreed that the top-down approach will continue to be indispensable in the peace process on the Korean peninsula. In this regard, President Trump stressed that the door was always open for dialogue with Chairman Kim,” the statement said.

A South Korean official said nothing has been decided about the timing and location of a next inter-Korean summit.

Moon told Trump he will contact the North in earnest to talk about holding an inter-Korean summit soon, the official said. Trump asked Moon to brief him as early as possible on North Korea’s latest thinking.

Ahead of his trip, aides to Moon stressed the need to revive US-North Korea talks. Moon has put his political reputation on the line in encouraging the negotiations.

‘Third summit could happen’

Trump expressed a willingness to hold a third summit with Kim, but said it wasn’t a “fast process”. 

Trump and Kim have met twice, in Hanoi in February and Singapore last June, building good will but failing to agree on a deal to lift sanctions in exchange for North Korea abandoning its nuclear and missile programmes. 

“It could happen. A third summit could happen. And it’s step by step. It’s not a fast process. I’ve never said it would be. It’s step by step,” Trump said.

Moon said he does not view the summit that collapsed in Hanoi as a failure, but part of a longer “process”. He said he agreed with Trump on the “ultimate goal” of total denuclearisation by North Korea.

“The important task that we face right now is to maintain the momentum of dialogue and also express the positive outlook regarding the third US-North Korea summit to the international community, that this will be held in the near future,” Moon said.

In a statement following the meeting, the White House said Trump reiterated to Moon that he has a good relationship with Kim and “noted the door remains open to dialogue”.

Although Trump didn’t rule out a third summit, Victor Cha, a North Korea expert, wasn’t hopeful. 

With Trump already campaigning for re-election, Cha said, “It’s hard for me to think Trump will risk a third summit.”

Last month, a senior North Korean official warned that Kim might rethink a moratorium on missile launches and nuclear tests in place since 2017 unless Washington makes concessions such as easing sanctions.

On Wednesday, North Korea’s state media said Kim had chaired a politburo meeting on Tuesday to discuss ways to make progress under the “prevailing tense situation”.

North Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said last month that Kim would soon make clear his post-Hanoi position. She said her country might pull out of the nuclear negotiations with the US, citing a lack of corresponding steps to some disarmament measures North Korea took last year. She also hinted that Kim was considering whether to continue the talks and his moratorium on nuclear and missile tests.

Jerusalem – When US President Donald Trump congratulated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his election win, he said it gave the yet-to-be-revealed US regional peace plan a “better chance”.

“The fact that Bibi won, I think we’ll see some pretty good action in terms of peace,” Trump said on Wednesday. “Everybody said you can’t have peace in the Middle East with Israel and Palestinians. I think we have a chance and I think we now have a better chance,” he added.

In his his election campaign, Netanyahu, whose last government was the most right-wing in Israeli history, showed little interest in peacemaking. Ahead of the vote, he said he would annex illegal Israeli settlements if he won a fifth term.

With the new coalition government likely to be even more right-wing than the last, analysts expect it will lead to tougher restrictions on Palestinian daily life and a more rapid annexation of the occupied West Bank.

‘Our existence is under threat’

The 2019 election campaign was riddled with anti-Palestinian racism as Israeli political discourse shifted further rightwards.

Benny Gantz, leader of the “centrist” Blue and White party, bragged in campaign videos about the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza during the Israeli military assault in 2014 when he was in command. He boasted about “sending parts of Gaza back to the Stone Age”.

On election day itself, 1,200 activists from Netanyahu’s Likud party were provided body cameras and sent to voting centres in predominately Palestinian neighbourhoods, seemingly in an attempt to intimidate voters there. When asked about the controversy, the prime minister said there should be cameras everywhere to ensure a “free and fair vote”.

Commentators have remarked on the weakness of left-wing parties in Israel; in the election, voters were choosing between the right and the far-right.

With all votes counted, it appears likely that only 10 out of 120 Knesset members (from the predominantly Arab political parties) will support equality for Palestinians, an end to the occupation and do not back Israel’s bombing of Gaza.

Of the parties elected to the Knesset, left-wing Meretz is the only predominantly Jewish Israeli party that supports an end to the occupation. However it has a record of supporting Israel’s bombing of Gaza, according to Diana Buttu, a Haifa-based analyst and former legal adviser to Palestinian peace negotiators.

Dahlia Scheindlin, an international public opinion analyst and strategic consultant based in Tel Aviv told Al Jazeera that as 46 to 50 percent of Israel’s population is right-wing, candidates had “correctly calculated” that they would need to compete to appear more right-wing during the campaign to win more votes.

As far as Israel’s government is concerned, there is no end in sight for the 52-year-old occupation of the Palestinian territories.

“They won’t even talk about a two state solution and certainly not a Palestinian state because the phrasing is important. And the last thing they will do is use the word ‘occupation’ because that’s left-wing,” Scheindlin told Al Jazeera.

In the three election cycles after 2009, Likud has declined to offer a platform on conflict resolution or anything else, she added.

Buttu said that Netanyahu’s renewed mandate will allow him to continue his “policies of apartheid, colonisation, and racism”.

“He has done everything in his power to make it difficult if not impossible to live in this country. We saw this with the language he’s used, with the passage of the nation-state law, with series of home demolitions of Palestinians in Israel his government has taken and all these measures to erase Palestinian identity,” Buttu said.

“Unfortunately Israeli fascism and Israeli racism ends up having a disproportionate impact on Palestinians… Our existence is under threat here. I don’t say this lightly.”

Annexation ‘under way’

Just days ahead of the vote, Netanyahu made headlines when he promised to annex illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank to Israel.

But annexation has already been under way for some time, according to Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, which says there was a marked shift from de-facto to de-jure incremental annexation of the West Bank during the previous parliament shift.

In four years 60 bills pertaining to annexation were presented to the Knesset and eight were approved, becoming law in Israel.

“The Israel Knesset regards itself as the legislative authority in the West Bank and the sovereign there,” Yesh Din noted.

“Israel is transforming itself into an apartheid state, in which two types of people live: Israeli citizens who have full rights and Palestinians who lack political rights, as well as other rights.”

While Israeli civil law applies to Israelis living in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, Palestinians living in same territory live under Israeli military law.

“They’ve erased the green line… All that has been missing is simply to do that formal annexation. But on the ground it already has been annexed,” Buttu said.

While some dismissed Netanyahu’s annexation pledge as an election gambit, others took him at his word.

Many alluded to the previous election in 2015 when Netanyahu said that if he returned to the office he would never establish a Palestinian state, reversing his previous endorsement of a two-state solution.

“And guess what, there is no Palestinian state under his watch. We have no reason to doubt him especially because there is already de facto annexation going on in the ground today and it has been going on for years,” Scheindlin said. “We should believe him.”

US peace plan

Israel’s attorney general said in February that he intended to indict Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Post-election negotiations are likely to involve Netanyahu extracting majority support for a law that would see parliament members, including prime ministers, granted immunity from prosecution.

In return, his potential coaltion partneres are likely to make strategic demands for positions in the cabinet or for policy guarantees, such as a form of annexation of the West Bank, assurances that no settlers will be evicted or the application of additional Israeli laws in the occupied West Bank.

It’s rumoured that the US plan, expected to be released in the coming months, will allow Israel to keep Area C, some 61 percent of the occupied West Bank which includes the illegal settlements and areas used by the army.

According to Aluf Benn, writing in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Palestinians are expected to be offered some form of economic compensation.

“If they reject the plan, as expected, it will be easier to support Israeli annexation of [the occupied West Bank], as Washington justified its recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights,” he wrote.

According to political analyst Ofer Zalzberg, the “highly likely Palestinian rejection” will fuel the Israeli government to further advance the pro-settlement policy.

“Broad policies of settlement construction and limitations on Palestinian life due to supposedly Israeli security needs, will continue and be more pronounced”, Zalzberg predicted.

Furthermore, the new right-wing coalition may promote implementation of Israeli law in East Jerusalem, most controversially completing the land registration reform so that all land in East Jerusalem will need to be registered in the Israeli land register, Zalzberg said.

“This could be very significant in terms of the crisis it would provoke. It would create conflicts over land between East Jerusalemites and the state of Israel,” he added.

Image: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Sudan’s military has toppled President Omar al-Bashir after widespread protests against his nearly 30-year rule.

General Awad Ibn Auf, who announced on Thursday the 75-year-old’s toppling and arrest, was sworn in later in the day as the head of a military council that will run the country for two years.

But the move was swiftly rejected as a “regime coup” by the protesters who said the military’s did not meet their demands for a civilian-led transitional government.

As protesters defied a military curfew, politicians around the world issued statements about the uncertain situation unfolding in Sudan.

Here is what they had to say.

Egypt

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement it backed the removal al-Bashir in neighbouring Sudan and expressed its “full support” for the “choices” of the country’s people.

The ministry also said Egypt had “complete trust” in Sudan’s military to “to overcome this defining phase and its challenges” before calling on the international community to help ensure a peaceful transition of power took place.

Under al-Bashir, Cairo and Khartoum endured tense relations after Sudan supported Ethiopia’s construction of a dam on the river Nile that put at risk Egypt’s water supply.

Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped Sudan could overcome its political upheaval peacefully through “national conciliation” and urged it to “work towards a normal democratic process.”

Speaking at a joint news conference with the president of Burkina Faso on Thursday in the Turkish capital, Ankara, Erdogan refrained from voicing support for al-Bashir.

Instead, he said Ankara was committed to the “continuation of deep-rooted ties” with Khartoum.

The Turkish leader has hosted al-Bashir in the past and defended him over accusations of war crimes, saying “a Muslim cannot commit genocide.”

The Hague-based International Criminal Court in 2009 indicted al-Bashir for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s western province of Darfur.

United Kingdom

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said two years of military rule was “not the answer” for “real change” in Sudan.

“We need to see a swift move to an inclusive, representative, civilian leadership. And we need to ensure there’s no more violence,” Hunt said in a Twitter post.

Dozens of people have been killed since anti-Bashir demonstrations erupted in December, including children, medics and soldiers, some of whom were attempting to protect protesters from a crackdown carried out by security forces loyal to the now-deposed Sudanese leader.

United States

The United States called for Sudan’s army to incorporate civilians into the country’s transitional government following the removal of al-Bashir, arguing two years of military rule was too long.

Washington also urged “transitional authorities to exercise restraint”, State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters at a press conference.    

“The Sudanese people should determine who leads them and their future and the Sudanese people have been clear and are demanding a civilian-led transition.”

Palladino said that Washington would continue to “call for those responsible for the horrific crimes that were committed in Darfur to be held accountable for those actions”, without specifying whether al-Bashir or Ibn Auf should be extradited.

Ibn Auf was head of military intelligence and security during the bloody conflict in the Darfur region, which began in 2003.

African Union

The African Union criticised the installation of the military council and called for calm and restraint in the country.

“The military takeover is not the appropriate response to the challenges facing Sudan and the aspirations of its people,” Moussa Faki, chairperson of the 55-member pan-African body’s commission, said in a statement.

Faki also pledged the AU’s “commitment and readiness to support Sudan” during the country’s political upheaval.

European Union

The 28-member European Union also said Sudan’s military council would “not provide the answers” to the country’s political crisis.

“Only a credible and inclusive political process can meet the aspirations of the Sudanese people and lead to the political and economic reforms the country needs,” Federica Mogherini, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, said in a statement.

“That can only be achieved through a swift handover to a civilian transitional government. In that process, all must exercise calm and utmost restraint,” Mogherini added.

United Nations

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called for an inclusive transition process in Sudan that will meet the “democratic aspirations” of the country’s people, his spokesman said.

The UN secretary-general also urged for all parties in Sudan to exercise “calm and restraint”, Stephane Dujarric added.

The US and five European nations on the Security Council, meanwhile, called for a meeting of the top UN body over al-Bashir’s removal from office.