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.