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.