Endriartono's hearing

Endriartono's hearing

This is the first time an Indonesian Military (TNI) chief candidate has had to pass a fit-and-proper test under which the candidate had to sit alone to face various questions raised by members of the House of Representatives (DPR).

We witnessed such a scene on Wednesday when Army chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto had to answer a wide variety of questions from House members.

Whoever is to become the TNI chief must go through such a process today, showing that the military is no longer a law unto itself.

Times have changed. The House is not the only institution that makes an evaluation. Non-governmental organizations also have the right to do so. Kontras, for example, even rejected candidates from the Army. It suggested that the candidates come from the Air Force. The Air Force is free from human rights violations and has never had one of its officers become the TNI chief, it said.

For us, we are not overly concerned with the selection of the TNI on a rotational basis. What is important is that a candidate is able to develop the military into a more professional organization.

But one thing is clear, we do not want to see or hear of any soldiers being involved in criminal acts, such as the timber theft that is raising such concern at the moment.

The point is that we want to see the military getting out of all types of direct or indirect criminal practices.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta