Megawati orders the military, police to stop moonlighting
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.