Now up to TNI to restore its battered image

Imanuddin, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, iman@thejakartapost.com

The Indonesian Military (TNI) will be 57 today. A human being at this age is more than mature, mellowed with good or bad lessons in life.

For the TNI it is a different story; it is a dynamic institution whose development and performance must have been influenced by the corresponding era of its existence, in which the most important thing is the attitude of its leaders.

Many good stories of the institution's performance and service to the country and its more than 200 million people abound. But there are also deleterious stories of wrongdoings and mistakes committed by its personnel.

The journey of the TNI prior to independence on Aug. 17, 1945 and afterwards, has virtually become legend. No one disputes our troops' struggle for a free, independent Indonesia. Poorly armed and equipped, the mostly bare-footed troops managed to squash the allied troops supporting the Dutch colonialists and send them packing from Indonesia.

The troops' devoted service to the country continued with their firm determination and loyalty in handling rebellions in West Sumatra, known as PRRI, and in North Sulawesi, known as Permesta in 1958 and 1959.

They gained more honor when in the third quarter of 1965, a group of TNI troops overcame a coup attempt, blamed on the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Despite all the controversies regarding the truth behind the PKI's alleged involvement in the coup attempt, the troops' maneuver to take control of the situation at least prevented the TNI from further disintegration.

Years later in 1981, the country's special forces troops outmaneuvered a group of terrorists who had hijacked an Indonesian aircraft, parked at Thailand's Don Muang Airport. The TNI is also credited with involvement in UN-sponsored peacekeeping activities in various conflict areas worldwide.

However the TNI's long line of service has been ruined by a series of cases of human rights violations allegedly committed by TNI troops in many conflict areas.

Critics have long suspected that the military have no genuine intention to put out communal and separatist conflicts in Aceh, Maluku and Papua. Some have even charged that the military adds fuel to the fires.

The troops have been accused of seeking short-term gains through selling arms to warring factions to long-term benefits such as showing that the military is still high in demand because the country is unsafe. The speculation has credence as the conflicts in Poso, Aceh and Irian Jaya have deteriorated as more troops have been deployed to the areas.

Others have implied that the conflicts amount to lucrative "projects" managed by parties who do not want to see a successful struggle for reform and democracy in the country.

The military's bad image has been worsened by the involvement of the TNI's special forces troops in the abduction and disappearance of youth and student activists prior to the downfall of president Soeharto.

The formal end of Soeharto's 32-year militaristic regime on May 21, 1998 rekindled hopes for political reform that would allow civil society to flourish. The military was also prompted to reform itself. The most important move was probably its declaration to drop the dual function doctrine that allowed its involvement in both its defense and political roles -- although later the public was told that this would take time.

The military liquidated its social and political affairs posts in 1998 and created a territorial affairs post, which was also scrapped in November last year.

But the TNI's brave and historic decision was made during the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) last August when the TNI announced its readiness to release its grip in the House of Representatives and the MPR simultaneously in 2004, instead of a gradual withdrawal from both legislative bodies by 2009.

This phenomenal decision has however been troubled by continuing unstable security marked by bombings and other acts of terror, and lately the mysterious cases of non-bombing explosions and massive fires. Those cases have been the triggering factor for the relocation of many foreign companies to other countries.

A stable political and security condition is undoubtedly needed as the key prerequisite for the recovery of the country's economy, with the main elements including the return of investment (in this case foreign injections), which could help boost the pace the economic recovery massively.

Unfortunately the police, with the back up of the TNI, have proven incapable of solving the incidents, which have hit the country hard since the downfall of Soeharto.

Numerous cases of terror, bombing and security disturbances have remained unsolved and uncovered.

If the security apparatus cannot handle such problems and conditions, who can the people look up to, to end the spiraling security problems? And who would be responsible for such conditions?

In the past, the blame was always directed at the PKI. Now, it's the Muslim radicals or the international al-Qaeda network who are the scapegoats.

The big question is whether the so-called Muslim radicals are really capable of organizing such mass unrest or a series of bombings on their own. Are they capable of acquiring the bombing materials and equipment without being detected or identified?

Or do they have the capability to incite a rampage, while they are so far considered small in number to the general population?

The security apparatus still needs to come up with answers to questions regarding public security; thorough investigations to uncover the truth behind all the cases of terror and bombings have yet to yield publicly available results.

But plain observation into the modes of the operation of acts of terror and bombing, or other cases of security disturbance, reflects actions by skilled groups of people; so skilled that the police could not solve the cases. Some observers have even speculated that they must have been done by elements in the TNI.

Whether the TNI would be willing to wipe out all the suspicion and allegations of its involvement in the terror and security disturbances, and therefore restore its image, completely rests on the TNI itself.