Sorong Military wins Army's territorial function contest

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Amid anti-military sentiment in Irian Jaya, the Sorong Military Subdistrict won the Army's territorial function contest due in large part to its successful programs to counter underdevelopment, poverty and illiteracy.

Lt. Col. Bachtiar, chief of the Sorong Military Subdistrict, proclaimed the award to be an honor not only for the military command but for also for the Papuan people participating in the success of the program.

"With this trophy, we win not only the contest but, and mainly, the hearts of Papuan people who have enjoyed all programs carried out under the territorial mission. Servicemen must go where they are assigned, but the locals live there and will remember their meritorious service," he said after receiving the trophy from Indonesian Military Commander Admiral Widodo A.S. here on Thursday.

The competition among the more than 400 military subdistricts across the country was keen and Sorong was deserving, he added.

Bachtiar who has led the military district since Jan. 2001, explained that the military district in cooperation with the local administration has launched several civic work programs to break the isolation of hundreds of remote areas in the regency.

"Hundreds of isolated villages on the mainland and islets have been connected by infrastructure improvements such as minibuses, speedboats and ferries so that villagers can sell their goods in small towns inside and outside the regency," he said.

Many people in remote areas have begun to enjoy electricity and TV programs and now have access to information at home and overseas.

"You should not be surprised to see that many villagers now have TV sets with satellite antennae," he said.

He noted that over the last nine months, the military subdistrict has built a number of churches and mosques in remote areas as well as roads connecting all villages in the mainland.

The military subdistrict has also assisted the local administration to campaign for national family planning and improved literacy among villagers in remote areas.

"It's not a strange thing that servicemen assigned to carry out civic work programs in isolated areas teach women about breastfeeding, health and farming. And so far, around 80 percent of school-age children in the regency have gone to school. Many servicemen have been also deployed to teach in elementary schools which lack teachers," he said.

Asked to comment on anti-military sentiment in the province, Bachtiar who graduated from the Army Academy in 1984, said it was merely unfair to blame the military institution for crimes and human rights abuses committed by servicemen.

"The military leadership has never ordered killing, theft or rape, but servicemen who are involved in such crimes and human rights abuses must be punished according to the military law," he said.

The military has been much criticized for human rights abuses during the ongoing military operation to crush the Free Papua Separatist Movement (OPM) in the past and so far, none have been legally called to account for abuses.

He said he fully supported the military's internal reform to go back to its original defense function and leave politics, "but it's impossible at present to phase out the Army's territorial function and dissolve military networks in regions.

"If the military commands and subdistricts are dissolved Indonesia will divide into small countries," he said.