Military told to get out of business
Military told to get out of business
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Military (TNI) should abandon its business
endeavors altogether before banning enlisted members from taking
side jobs just to make ends meet, analysts say.
An ardent critic of the TNI, Munir, who is also the executive
director of the Indonesian Human Rights Watch, said on Thursday
that the practice of low-ranking personnel taking side jobs was
in fact part of the business network built by their superiors.
"Providing security protection for executives of high-profile
companies is in fact part of the business run by TNI members to
augment the small budget for the military.
"We should not assume that only low-ranking personnel
moonlight. The business deals are made by the superiors, but it
is the low-ranking personnel who do the dirty work," he told The
Jakarta Post.
He said that to stop TNI members from taking side jobs, there
needed to be a moratorium for the military in general not to
conduct business.
"The only way to curb moonlighting practices is the government
must eventually ban the military from operating businesses. It
would then have to provide 100 percent of the military's budget,"
he said.
However, he was quick to add that because such a proposal was
unlikely to be realized in the near future, the first thing that
could be done was to uphold discipline among military personnel.
Munir was commenting on an announcement by TNI chief Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto that military members were banned from taking
side jobs to augment their income. After the fatal shooting of
businessman Boedyharto Angsono and his bodyguard, First Sgt. Edi
Siyet from the TNI Special Forces (Kopassus), the military chief
ordered all military units to crackdown on soldiers taking side
jobs.
It is public knowledge that many soldiers moonlight as
security guards at private offices, nightclubs and hotels, and
sometimes as personal bodyguards to augment their basic salaries
of Rp between 750,000 (US$88.24) and Rp 1.5 million a month.
Koesnanto Anggoro, a researcher with the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS), concurred with Munir, saying
that it was the high-ranking personnel who in fact benefited from
their members taking side jobs.
"I assume that all commanders know about the activities of
their men outside their official duty, but they allow such
practices to continue as long as regular fees are still paid," he
told the Post.
He said moonlighting among military members sprang from the
lack of enforcement in the military disciplinary code.
"What is needed to stop military personnel from taking side
jobs is not increasing the military's budget, but by upholding
military discipline and reforming the military's judicial system.
"The power of military superiors is already excessive. It is
at a point where they can decide whether or not their men are
guilty," he said, adding that taking away such power from
military superiors would meet with resistance and be an uphill
battle.
"Thorough reform needs to be undertaken within the military.
Despite the steadfast disciplinary code and well-structured
organization, the military is as corrupt as the civilian
bureaucracy," the analyst said.