Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau

Crimes and misdemeanors committed by Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel in Riau dropped slightly from 120 cases in 2002 to 117 cases in 2003, a senior military officer said.

But, although the number of offenses had declined, they had become more serious in nature, the commander of the I/5 Pekanbaru Military Police Detachment, Lt. Col. Soebandi said on Tuesday in Pekanbaru.

According to Soebandi, of the 117 crimes and misdemeanors in 2003, 60 percent were committed by Army personnel, around 35 percent by the Navy and the remainder by Air Force personnel.

"In the previous years, for example, vehicle thefts were not usually accompanied by violence. But, last year, there were more cases of armed robbery," he said, without providing statistics.

He said that desertion was the most common misdemeanor.

Of the 117 cases handled by the court-martial in Padang and Medan, 113 cases had been solved, in which three Army personnel had been discharged from their units, said Soebandi.

"Usually, those who commit desertion are from combat battalions. One of the (three) men deserted his duty because he was afraid of being posted to a conflict area, such as Aceh," he said.

Of the offenses committed by Army personnel, vehicle theft topped the list, followed by armed robbery and desertion.

He added that the Military Police also investigated cases that were perpetrated by military personnel.

"There was only one such case in 2003, when a fight between the Army's artillery unit and the police Mobile Brigade in Dumai, Riau, broke out," he said.

Airforce personnel had a relatively crime-free year in 2003, with only traffic offenses recorded.

He also said that 70 percent of criminal and desertion cases were committed by non-commissioned officers, 20 percent by petty officers and 10 percent by officers.

He explained that legal cases involving military personnel in Riau were handled by court-martial in the West Sumatra capital of Padang, or in the North Sumatra capital of Medan, as a court- martial had not yet been established in Pekanbaru.

Soebandi hoped that in 2004, the TNI would establish a court- martial in Riau so that the cases could be processed more efficiently.

"At this time, every case has to be submitted to Padang or Medan. This has burdened us financially and slowed down the judicial process," he said.