'I'm against spying soldiers'

Interim coordinating minister for political and security affairs Hari Sabarno argued recently that the outgoing government opted to maintain the military's territorial command in a bid to boost the country's defenses and protect its territorial integrity. However, many people still believe the physical presence of soldiers in every village of society is akin to being the "arms and legs" of an authoritarian regime. The Jakarta Post asked some residents their opinion on the issue.

Rio, 26, works for a motorcycle producer in South Jakarta. He lives in a boarding house in Radio Dalam area, South Jakarta:

So far, I have never had any dealings with the military territorial command posts in Jakarta. I don't even know where the nearest command post is from my boarding house.

In that case, I couldn't care less whether there are command posts or not in Jakarta. And because Jakarta is the capital city where the central defense office is, the city does not need military command posts.

But once, when I was in the university's social action internships program for two months in a village in rural area, I had to go to the military command post to ask for security backup when we planned to hold a fair.

Megandaru, 27, a lecturer at the Institute of State Administrative Studies in Cilandak, South Jakarta. He lives in the institute's apartments:

I don't think society needs the presence of a military command post in every district. It's enough to have one at the city or regency, because I believe we don't need a massive security backup from the military.

If the government's idea is to maintain the presence of the military's territorial role down to the regental level to support the police, I think that's fine too.

But I am against their presence if the soldiers also serve as "spying agents" and carry out regular surveillance on political activists, like they did in the Soeharto era.

--The Jakarta Post