Kiki Syahnakri: A real officer and a gentleman

Kiki Syahnakri: A real officer and a gentleman

Lela E. Madjiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In this era of military bashing, few people in the Indonesian
Military (TNI) enjoy genuine respect and affection, from fellow
officers or civilians. One of those officers who does command
respect is the recently retired Army deputy chief of staff Lt.
Gen. (ret) Kiki Syahnakri.

His retirement earlier this month brought sadness to many in
the Army, who decided that Kiki was among the few whose deeds
matched his words; whose struggle to restore the Army's
reputation and pride in turn made him the pride of the Army.

He was, for example, among those officers who believed in
respect for human rights and among the first to promote the law
of war among troops. He issued a directive to guide troops in
combat situations to avoid human rights violations while serving
as the deputy commander of the Dili Military Command in 1993,
when few in the military were aware of the issue.

For this, he earned the admiration of his peers and the
respect of his enemy. Even Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo
holds him in high regard. Last December, Bishop Belo sent Kiki a
card thanking him for helping to push for the return of East
Timorese refugees living in East Nusa Tenggara.

Although many people tried to persuade him to lobby the powers
that be for an extension of his service, Kiki insisted that he
was committed to upholding one of the Army's reform agendas,
which is to quit come retirement age.

While the Army may have been denied the leadership of one of
its best men, Kiki's refusal to give in to temptation is a
shining example at a time when it seems that everybody else will
do anything to stay in power. The following is an interview Kiki
gave The Jakarta Post a few days after he was "asked" to hand
over his post to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto on
May 3.

Question: Officially, you went into retirement on May 1. There
is no dispute about that. However, the manner in which you handed
over your post to the Army chief was rather unusual. I mean, the
TNI leadership has yet to find someone to replace you, and the
usual practice is to wait until a replacement has been found
before you actually leave. Your exit gave the impression that the
TNI leadership was treating you like a "disease", a problem they
wanted to get rid of as soon as possible...

Answer: Unusual, yes, because, as you said, the usual practice
is to wait for a replacement to ensure a smooth transition. On
the other hand, there was nothing non-procedural about my handing
over my post to the Army chief, for practical reasons.
Officially, I'm a retired officer and I can no longer make
decisions or sign letters. It's as simple as that.

(Sources, however, told the Post that in such cases it is the
prerogative of the Army chief, or any service chief, to extend
the service period of an officer until a replacement officer is
in place -- Ed.)

Q: In his speech at the handing-over ceremony, the Army chief
made a remark about your contributions to reform in the Army, and
that some of your ideas have also been adopted by TNI
Headquarters...

A: One of my proposals that eventually became Army policy was to
improve professionalism among the troops. In fact, I first raised
this issue when I was commander of the Udayana Military Command.

Military professionalism is built on two aspects, namely
military skills and military character, and of the two the latter
is our weak spot. Despite adequate guidelines, such as the human
rights law that we adopted in the 1980s, we have yet to reach a
level where troops really understand the rules of engagement.

Q: What are the constraints to building a professional Army?

A: It takes a long time, a lot of ammunition and a lot of money
to build a professional Army, none of which we have.

We are very aware that in the past we were involved too deeply
in politics and as a result politics penetrated the Army, making
it a multicolored institution, just like a rainbow. Eventually,
politics gnawed at our military skills, causing them to
deteriorate from bad to worse.

There was a time when the Army was a highly respected body.
Not only were we the best in Southeast Asia, we also commanded
the respect of such armies as the British Gurkhas during the
confrontation with Malaysia (where Indonesian troops fought the
Gurkhas in the jungles of Kalimantan) and the Dutch in Irian Jaya
(during the campaign to liberate Irian Jaya from Dutch
colonialism).

It was no small wonder that Malaysia, for example, sent
members of its special forces to train in Batujajar (the Army's
special forces training center in Bandung, West Java). Many other
countries, mostly in Southeast Asia, but as far away as Africa,
learned from us and trained with us. It is our commitment to
recapture the glory we once had.

Q: As deputy chief of the Army, you were tasked with the job of
revamping the Army's foundation and business enterprises...

A: It was a process that started in February last year. We hired
professionals of international reputation such as Kemal Stambul
from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, lawyer Gani Lubis to give us legal
advice and Erry Riyana Harjapamekas, the former president of PT
Timah, as a management consultant. We also hired Ernst & Young to
audit the 39 companies under the Army's foundation. The company
audit and evaluation process ended in October, and the results
have been published in a white book to be made public soon.

Based on the proposals contained in the white book, the Army
has outlined a series of steps to pursue. One of them is to
either liquidate, merge or maintain its 39 companies, according
to their condition. Another important thing is, based on Law No.
16 on foundations issued last year, the Army's foundation will no
longer run the companies. Instead, all of the companies will be
operated by a holding company and the foundation will only deal
with the holding company.

In the long run, the Army plans to quit business altogether,
but only after the state can compensate it for all the funds
generated by the companies.