ABRI in business

Apart from its sociopolitical function, the trading and business activities that have for years been conducted by ABRI -- either by individual members or by ABRI as an institution -- have now come under fire. Such nonmilitary activities are now seen as "deviations that must no longer be tolerated". Demands have even come from several sides that ABRI abandon its businesses, or maintain only its cooperatives.

A logical consequence of such a step, however, is -- and this goes for the entire state apparatus, ABRI personnel included -- that the government must take the responsibility for providing all its needs, including salaries and fringe benefits. ABRI itself has already taken steps to streamline itself to become an armed force that is not oversized, but at the same time still effective -- a step that has not yet been taken by the civilian bureaucracy. In any case, resolving this problem would involve much spending, considering that ABRI's duties involve safeguarding this republic and all its 202 million people.

-- Republika, Jakarta