'Deserters adversely affect operations'

'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.