Imparsial: Military Approach Inappropriate for Civilians After Deaths of Cooperative Manager Candidates
Imparsial Director Ardi Manto Adiputra stated that the deaths of three prospective managers of the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperative (KDMP) further demonstrate that the military education system is inappropriate for indiscriminate application to civilians. “Moreover, there is absolutely no connection between work professionalism in carrying out cooperative duties and military training,” he told Media Indonesia on Thursday (25/6).
Following the deaths of the three participants in basic military training, Imparsial urged an investigation and law enforcement. Additionally, the perpetrators or the command structure responsible for implementing this programme must be held legally accountable for the loss of life under the control of the selection committee and training organisers.
Ardi stressed that the involvement of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) in the KDMP programme is highly inappropriate, as it not only contradicts the TNI Law regarding operations other than war, but more than that, the military training has great potential to erode a culture of critical and innovative thinking. It closes the space for participatory dialogue that is commonly practised in organisational and leadership systems within democratic civil society, while replacing it with a more authoritative approach and obedience to command orders.
“This militaristic approach also tends to use a security approach or even a coercive approach in problem solving. So, military education is very inappropriate to be applied in building a managerial system for civil organisations,” he asserted.
He also highlighted that when West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi implemented military barracks education for delinquent children, Ardi had already criticised it as an inappropriate approach to tackling juvenile delinquency in West Java, and his party was pleased that the programme was eventually halted. “We are concerned that dominant values in the military environment, such as obedience, command, and hierarchy, can erode the values that should exist and be taught to students or other civil society members, namely critical thinking, creativity, freedom of thought, and space for argumentation,” said Ardi.
Therefore, Ardi assessed that the KDMP programme has been flawed from the outset and should be stopped first before there is a mature and clear concept that follows the principles already embedded in the culture of civil society organisational systems. “Including all government programmes carried out using a military approach, they should also be stopped, including the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme,” he concluded.