Megawati orders the military, police to stop moonlighting
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri asked both the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police to improve their professionalism without having to raise own funds to finance operations despite the minimum budget provided by the government.
"Whatever the cost of improving the armed forces, it is the state that is obliged to meet those costs. We should stop the practice where the TNI and the National Police are compelled to seek funds in order to finance their daily operations, let alone to support their principal duties.
"This is not normal. Indonesia needs them to function ... to safeguard our borders ... (which are) an easy target for foreign powers to loot both in terms of security and for economic gain," Megawati said in her address which marked the celebration of the TNI's 57th anniversary at the Air Force's Halim Perdanakusumah air base in East Jakarta.
As President, Megawati is the TNI supreme commander.
She called on all levels within the TNI to devote themselves to build a model of professionalism despite the shortage of finances as the military in other countries across the world had done.
Her statement is the first official comment from the President on the military and police involvement in illegal businesses, which has become a common practice. This involvement has led to a conflict of interests, triggering rivalry among the two armed institutions, leading to clashes, many of them deadly.
The latest clashes took place last week, when troops of the Army Airborne Battalion stationed in Namo Sira-sira, near Binjai, some 30 kilometers north of the North Sumatra capital of Medan, attacked the Langkat Police Station and Mobile Brigade.
Eleven people were killed in the bloody attacks, including seven police personnel, one TNI soldier and three civilians.
The incident erupted when the police refused to release a suspected drug dealer who was said to have links with one of the attackers.
There have also been reports of illegal poaching and smuggling involving military and police personnel.
Megawati, dressed in a black-and-light blue suit with brass emblems, acknowledged the state's inability to meet the armed forces' minimum necessities due to the prolonged economic crisis the country has suffered for the last five years, ending hopes for the TNI to obtain the additional Rp 3 trillion requested for next year's military budget, proposed at Rp 11 trillion.
Comparing the current conditions with the early years of the TNI in 1948 when the cash-strapped government of Megawati's father Sukarno decided to downsize the military amid Dutch military aggression, Megawati highlighted the dedication of the soldiers at that time to keep the country intact despite the difficult conditions.
But TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said the current Rp 11 trillion was inadequate to cope with the complex security and defense problems.
"If Indonesia wants to keep its dignity in the eyes of other nations than we have to have a reliable armed forces. But how (to achieve that) if the budget cannot meet the need for equipment and basic necessities?"
The celebration also marked the end of three decades of representation at the House of Representatives (DPR)/People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in 2004 in accordance with the amended 1945 Constitution.
Megawati also questioned how the civilians could fill in the role left by TNI in carrying out socio-political activities in the country, saying the momentum should give civilians a greater chance "for sincere self-criticism, particularly amid the strong criticism from the public for the performance of the post-reform administration".
She also stressed that everybody is responsible in the reform movement, therefore one doesn't have the right to blame others for poor governance.
"We have just made a new political contract which must serve as a reference to build a civilized nation ... no one is allowed to stand as an outsider," she said.