Kudos to TNI

Kudos to TNI

The Indonesian Military (TNI) must be one of the few
institutions whose work and contributions to the emergency relief
effort in disaster-stricken areas in Aceh and North Sumatra has
not been fully appreciated. There is even the sense that the
Indonesian media (including this newspaper) have been giving
greater, if not more positive, coverage to the relief efforts of
foreign militaries in our own backyard.

This, however, says more about the state-of-the-art equipment
(the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off the coast of Aceh
is just too awesome) and, to some extent, the efficiency of the
foreign militaries relative to the TNI. It does not say who is
doing the most work in Aceh and North Sumatra today, for that
would undoubtedly be the TNI.

Is this a case of unfair treatment of our own military?

You could say that. But it is also a reflection of the high
expectations many people have placed on the TNI as the nation
suffers through the worst of what UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
described as a global catastrophe.

It is also a sign that the nation is looking to the TNI, being
literally on the front line in this war against Mother Nature's
wrath, to be the first and the most active in lending a hand to
the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that struck on Dec. 26.

For all our differences of opinion about the presence of the
military command in Aceh, this "territorial structure" means the
TNI is the only group in the area that has the organization,
personnel, equipment, skill and capability to provide immediate
assistance to the victims of disasters. No other organization can
match the TNI, not even the civilian provincial administration,
which lost a third of its employees.

Did the TNI perform up to expectations? The lack of
appreciation given to the military suggests that, in the eyes of
many people in this country, it did not. But this is an unfair
assessment born more out of ignorance -- and lack of media
coverage -- and unfairly high expectations.

The TNI has a disproportionately heavy presence in Aceh
because of the ongoing operation to quell the separatist Free
Aceh Movement (GAM). But Mother Nature does not discriminate and
the earthquake and tsunami hit members of the TNI and their
families, and we suspect some GAM rebels and their families, just
as hard as it hit civilian targets. The TNI, like the police and
the civilians they are supposed to defend, suffered many losses
in this disaster.

Soldiers were confronted with the impossible choice of putting
their military duties first or rescuing and protecting their own
families. One heroic but rarely told story of this disaster is
that many soldiers bravely performed their duties knowing that
their own families were in jeopardy.

In the aftermath of the disaster, TNI soldiers were well
positioned to conduct rescue operations, to take the injured to
hospitals, to administer first aid and to set up tents for the
displaced. This they did out of their sense of duty, and in most
cases, without the media publicity.

Instead, most of the reports that came out were more about
their shortcomings, from their supposed slow response and lack of
coordination to suggestions that some officers were selling food
aid intended for victims. Some of these reports may have had some
truth in them, but they should not negate the big picture, which
is that overall the TNI did its job under the most difficult of
conditions.

One could always argue, after the fact, that the TNI could,
and should, have done a lot more given its strong presence in
Aceh. Had it not been for its poor reputation among the people of
Aceh, the TNI should even have been given the task of
coordinating the entire humanitarian operation currently underway
because it is the one organization on the ground that has the
capacity and network to do so.

Long before the civilian government in Jakarta made up its
mind about coordinating the emergency relief operations, the TNI
had already appointed Maj. Gen. Bambang Darmono to coordinate
with foreign militaries. The success of the foreign military
missions in ferrying relief supplies to the most remote areas on
the western coast of Aceh could not have been achieved without
direction from the TNI.

For all its faults and shortcomings, our TNI has done what is
expected of it and probably a lot more. Many soldiers and their
families have made sacrifices for the nation, some even went
beyond the call of duty. Their work and contributions to the Aceh
humanitarian operation should not only be recognized, but also
widely applauded.