'Deserters adversely affect operations'

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Observers urged the Indonesian Military (TNI) on Wednesday to review its policy on the deployment of soldiers to conflict-torn areas, which they said worsened the violence and sparked desertions.

Military observer Ikrar Nusa Bhakti of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said the TNI should avoid sending troops to conflict-ridden areas from where they hail, as illustrated in many past cases, as their impartiality could not be guaranteed.

Another military expert, Kusnanto Anggoro, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) blamed the military's system for failing to improve the wealth and discipline of soldiers, which then triggered desertion.

Both observers agreed that deserting soldiers adversely affected a military operation.

"Deserters also affect the chain of command because the military always moves in small groups of soldiers during an operation. Should one soldier go missing, the line of command is broken," Kusnanto told The Jakarta Post.

Early on Tuesday, the Trikora Military Command overseeing the troubled province of Papua discharged 52 soldiers -- all indigenous Papuans -- this year due to desertion.

One Papuan military officer blamed the geographical terrain for the desertions, but also could not resist saying it was possible that the deserted soldiers may have joined the separatist Free Papuan Movement (OPM).

Last year, 38 soldiers, all indigenous Papuans, were also discharged from the provincial military command, mostly on desertion charges.

There have been reports of desertions in war-torn Aceh by troops who were disappointed with the government's policy in the province. Most deserted soldiers were indigenous Acehnese and joined the secessionist movement there.

Ikrar also warned that the deployment of soldiers to strife- torn areas from where they originated could endanger operations because "they could be even more violent than other soldiers just to prove to their colleagues that they truly support the unitary state of Indonesia."

"I once talked to indigenous soldiers in Papua and they said that their colleagues from other regions were sometimes prejudice against them, suspecting that they would supply information to the enemy.

"I perceive this as a psychological problem that soldiers face. It worsens because of their lack of knowledge on nationalism," Ikrar said.

TNI discipline regulates that a soldier who is absent without leave for one month will be reprimanded by his superior. If the absence extends to another month, his salary will be withheld, and after three months he is considered a deserter and is discharged.

In other territories rocked by sectarian conflict, such as Kalimantan and Maluku, there were cases of desertion among soldiers who could not avoid taking sides with one of the warring groups because of similarities in ethnicity or religion.

But desertion is not the sole domain of soldiers deployed to conflict-torn territories as it also occurs in East Java.

Desertion tops the violations by soldiers stationed with the Brawijaya Military Command because the strict and extensive military rules add to their hardships, Kusnanto said.

Therefore, Kusnanto doubted whether ideology was the reason that soldiers deserted the military, on the grounds that troops were nonpolitical individuals.

"But no matter what motivates these soldiers to desert, they are equipped with weapons and are well-informed about military operations. And it is very dangerous," Kusnanto said.