Sorong Military wins Army's territorial function contest

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.