'I'm against spying soldiers'

'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