Execute treasonous soldiers: General
Execute treasonous soldiers: General
JAKARTA (JP): Loyalty to the state and the government is a
undisputable creed in the military and servicemen found guilty of
betraying this should be shot dead, says the Army's Strategic
Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu.
"All servicemen must be loyal to the unitary state and the
government without any reservation as is stipulated in the
military oath. Those betraying the oath and the military code of
ethics should be shot dead," he told journalists after
inaugurating a mosque at the Kostrad Headquarters here on
Thursday.
Ryamizard made the statement in response to the alleged
involvement of two servicemen in recent bomb blasts. There is
also some suspicion that the blasts may be connected to the
separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
"There is an indication that the two low-ranking soldiers, who
are incidentally of Acehnese descent, and their activities seem
to be linked with separatist activities in restive Aceh. But let
the police carry out a thorough investigation into it," he said.
The two servicemen -- Ibrahim from Kostrad and Irwan from the
Army's Special Force (Kopassus) -- were arrested in Jakarta and
Bandung, West Java, respectively, and are both currently in
police custody.
Ryamizard revealed that before being arrested by the police,
Ibrahim, had been under surveillance for several months for
alleged involvement in narcotics and an extramarital affair.
"If he had not been arrested by the police, he would have been
discharged from military service for those cases and disciplinary
violations," he said.
As a further preventive measure, Ryamizard said he had ordered
his subordinates to conduct an "internal control" of the daily
activities of all servicemen in Kostrad and psychological tests
to ensure their compliance with the military code of ethics.
"I have ordered them to discharge servicemen whose activities
violate the code of ethics and those who are not loyal to the
state and the government," he said.
Ryamizard, also former vice president Try Sutrisno's son-in-
law, conceded that many youths joined the military due to
economic difficulties and then quit because of the low pay.
"Many had the misperception that the military is a place to
gain wealth. They must be disappointed if they join the military
with such a motive because servicemen are underpaid," he
remarked.
Asked about the number of servicemen who had deserted the
Army's unit, Ryamizard said number was no more than three.
He said it was normal that three out of a total of 27,000
personnel in Kostrad would "violate the military oath".
"But such rebel soldiers should be executed," he added. (rms)