Elimination of TNI's territorial affairs' post confirmed

Elimination of TNI's territorial affairs' post confirmed

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Military (TNI)'s chief of territorial affairs,
Lt. Gen. Agus Widjojo, confirmed on Friday that his post would
likely be eliminated in response to rising calls for the TNI to
do so.

"Should the territorial role be returned to the TNI's chief of
general affairs, I think there will be no problem. This
territorial role, which constitutes one of our defense roles,
used to be subordinate to the general affairs' post," Agus told
reporters after attending a ceremony commemorating the TNI's 56th
anniversary at Halim Perdanakusuma air base in East Jakarta.

"The TNI's territorial affairs post was created when the TNI
undertook internal reform in 1998, when the social and political
affairs post was eliminated," he said.

Agus, however, underlined that the restructuring was still
awaiting further developments.

The military's territorial role has long been criticized for
having hampered the development of democracy due to its deep
involvement in civilian affairs, especially during the
administration of former president Soeharto, who used military
networks stretching down to the village level to silence his
critics and maintain the status quo.

This extensive network is comprised of Regional Military
Commands (Kodam) in nearly all of Indonesia's 32 provinces,
Military Resort Commands (Korem) in the smaller provinces,
District Military Commands (Kodim) in regencies and mayoralties,
Subdistrict Military Commands (Koramil) in subdistricts and
Military Representative Posts in villages.

Unlike civilians, who have political rights, including the
right to vote in general elections, military personnel are barred
from voting. As a consequence, the military are granted a number
of seats in the People's Consultative Assembly and the House of
Representatives to channel their political aspirations.

In line with the effort to enhance its professionalism, the
TNI is reportedly on the brink of a major restructuring involving
the elimination of a number of posts.

The restructuring is also aimed at reducing the number of
generals as many observers say that "the TNI has almost as many
generals as soldiers."

Agus himself once mooted a plan to hand over the military's
territorial role to the National Police and provincial
administrations. He underlined, however, that the handover of
this vital role might take years to bring about.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the TNI/National Police faction in
the House of Representatives, Maj. Gen. Budi Harsono, disclosed
on Friday that the TNI was preparing to abandon its political
role in the House by 2004.

"In many democratic countries, the military has abandoned its
political role and focuses mainly on the effort to improve its
professionalism. Actually our presence here (in the House) is
only so as to follow developments in national politics," Budi
said as quoted by Antara.

He added, however, that once the military left politics, its
members would have to get back their rights to vote in general
elections like other citizens.