Juwono looks to return to campus

JAKARTA (JP): Former minister of defense Juwono Sudarsono, who handed over his post to Mahfud MD on Saturday, has said he intends to go back to school.

After serving under three different Cabinets in the past three years, Juwono says he looks forward to teaching full-time again.

"I will go back to the campus. The academic year will start on Sept. 4," he said.

Juwono will likely return to lecturing on international relations at the School of Sociopolitical Sciences and at the postgraduate program at the University of Indonesia.

It was in this field that Juwono distinguished himself as one of the nation's top academics.

Juwono said he was not disappointed whatsoever at being excluded from the new Cabinet.

He said he had no real aspirations for power and was not overambitious about a ministerial post.

"I will leave my official residence at the Widya Chandra housing complex (for state officials) in South Jakarta immediately. I've been given a month to vacate the premises, but I will do it sooner," he said.

But Juwono admitted he would now be forced to look for a house to rent as his modest private residence in Ciputat, South Jakarta, needed some repairs.

Juwono, who received his doctorate degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1978, said he was proud of having served three presidents with three different characteristics over the last three years.

Despite his short-terms, Juwono enjoyed his job as environmental minister from March to May 1998 under former president Soeharto, minister of culture and education from May 1998 to October 1999 under ex-president B.J. Habibie and minister of defense from November 1999 to August 2000 under Abdurrahman Wahid.

When asked to compare the three, Juwono gave a brief but succinct insight: "Soeharto is assertive, Habibie is a scientist more than a politician and Gus Dur is known as a humanist".

Further elaborations may likely follow in a book he says he would like to write.

Without doubt, Juwono's most notable post of the three he held was as minister of defense.

President Abdurrahman Wahid broke with tradition by appointing Juwono as the only civilian defense minister since the 1950s.

Many saw him as the perfect man to bridge civilian interests while still being accepted by the military.

Born in Ciamis, West Java, in 1942, Juwono said that over the last 10 months, building the new civil-military ties had been one of his main accomplishments.

"The most important thing is that we were successful in establishing strong fundamentals for the civilian-military relationship. The National Police, in charge of security, has now separated from the Indonesian Military (TNI), which is responsible for defending the state," he said.

He said that greater focus had also been placed on improving the welfare of low-ranking servicemen by raising their monthly salaries by about 30 percent.

When asked to comment on a new People's Consultative Assembly decree which requires the president to seek approval from the House of Representatives in appointing TNI commanders and police chiefs, Juwono asserted his disapproval.

"This regulation will encourage military and police officers to use money politics to win political support from legislators to gain the top positions in the military and National Police," he contended.

Asked to comment on his successor, Mahfud MD, an academic who is unfamiliar with the military world, Juwono said the top position at the Ministry of Defense required management skills more than military expertise.

"The military and the defense ministry have numerous experts and qualified officials to give input to solving all problems. The most important thing is that the new defense minister should have the capability of managing all human resources, especially think tanks and officials at the two institutions," he said.

Juwono recalled that even with his background in a military think tank, he still encountered some resistance weeks after he was posted.

Juwono was deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) from 1995 to 1998.

But to many who frequented the Ministry of Defense, one of Juwono's most notable contributions was making the ministry's rigid image more human.

Many of the strict militaristic customs were softened.

One of the most remarkable was a joint media conference earlier in July involving many of the first echelons officials, who spoke directly to the media.

This rare experience admittedly frightened many.

The ministry's inspectorate general, Maj. Gen. Soeharto, frankly admitted in his opening remarks: "To fellow journalists, whom I'm scared of ...," as Juwono looked on with a smile.

Another change was the ability of people to walk across the front yard of the ministry.

"Actually, pak Juwono even wanted to eliminate all the guards around his office so everybody could be more comfortable entering the compound," one of ministry's staff members told The Jakarta Post recently.

But even if Juwono does return full-time to teaching, his days may be numbered, as sources told the Post that the government was likely to offer him an ambassadorial post.

When asked about the possibility, Juwono only responded with a smile.(dja/rms)