Breaches in TNI's code of conduct due to indicipline
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
"It used to be great, being a soldier," says an Army colonel, half in remorse, half in nostalgia.
In the past, he continues, when a soldier stood at a roadside waiting for an angkot (public transit vehicle), the driver, upon seeing him, would stop and say that as he was heading in the same direction -- he would be happy to take the soldier, while in fact he was going in the opposite direction.
"Today, an angkot would turn around and avoid us. Or, the conductor would ask for the fare as soon as we'd entered the vehicle. In the past, it would be a struggle to make them accept our money," says the colonel.
Indeed, there is a big gap between then and now, and the military has only itself to blame for the decay in public appreciation of their very existence.
Sunday's incident at Binjai, North Sumatra, was only another entry in a long list of breaches in TNI's code of conduct that includes criminal offenses, from the unthinkably ridiculous to grave crimes like murder and treason.
On Dec. 26, 1999, for example, a group of about 45 soldiers, angry at being scolded for not wearing motorcycle helmets, stormed a police station in East Kalimantan, killing at least one policeman and injuring 11 others.
On Dec. 15, 2000, Air Force Sgt. Maj. Mirad Rikardo, 30, died in hospital a day after he was interrogated and beaten by members of the Air Force Provost at Adisutjipto Air Force base in Yogyakarta. Mirad had been declared a deserter for failing to report to work for the three days prior to his arrest by the provost.
These examples of TNI's bad conduct have not only tarnished its image but have also distanced it from the people. This is unacceptable, given that TNI has always prided itself on the fact that it was borne of the people, and is therefore one with the people and is there to protect the people.
A host of reasons have been cited for the breaches in TNI's code of conduct and many seem to agree that poor welfare is the main reason.
A four-star general told me recently -- when asked to comment on a Newsweek report about soldiers taking bribes in Aceh-- that he could not be too hard on the soldiers.
"I can't be too hard on them. You know how much they get," he said, referring to the low salaries of the troops.
Poor pay may be a justified excuse, but how can one explain the dedication of a soldier who has been stationed in a remote part of Irian Jaya for 15 years and has never yet lost faith in his mission?
"I have lived here for 15 years. It's my home now and I will spend the rest of my life here rather than go back to Java," said the noncommissioned officer stationed in a village outside Wamena in Jayawijaya regency.
The officer lives in a simple hut with an earth floor, exactly like the dwellings of other local tribespeople. Yet he is content, although his monthly Rp 50,000 operational stipend is far from adequate. He has to patrol neighboring villages and the money is nowhere near the amount he spends on gasoline. Yet he is content because he likes what he does and loves the people.
Low wages are therefore a poor excuse and it is an insult to dedicated officers to blame poor conduct on poor pay. Discipline and dedication are what is lacking among today's members of the military. A military without discipline amounts to an armed gang and a military without dedication is nothing but a mercenary. TNI has to prove it is neither of the two.