TNI is a political enigma

TNI is a political enigma

The appointment of four active military officers to
nonmilitary posts in the new Cabinet on Friday runs counter to
the recent drive to phase the Indonesian Military (TNI) gradually
out of politics. Coming after repeated pledges from TNI to stay
out of politics, and after it kept its pledge to remain neutral
in the election of the president and vice president, the
inclusion of the senior ranking officers in President Abdurrahman
Wahid's Cabinet sends confusing signals about the real intentions
of the military leadership.

The decision by the TNI faction in the People's Consultative
Assembly not to put forward its own nominations in the
presidential and vice presidential elections, and former TNI
chief Gen. Wiranto gracefully refusing the vice presidential
nomination remain fresh in our minds. Wiranto earned deserving
praise for his decision, which helped avoid the scenario of the
TNI faction flexing its muscles to support him in a race against
Megawati Soekarnoputri. By withdrawing, Wiranto prevented what
could have been an ugly political confrontation in the Assembly.

With the inclusion of a number of high-ranking TNI officers in
the Cabinet, questions are raised about how serious the military
is in its stated plan to withdraw from politics. It was not so
much the numbers involved or the people selected for the Cabinet
which concerned critics, but the revelation that Gen. Wiranto was
consulted in the selection process. President Abdurrahman's
Cabinet is the result of bargaining among the country's major
political forces, TNI included. And Gen. Wiranto could not resist
joining this political horse-trading, thus securing Cabinet posts
for himself and his colleagues.

While we do not doubt the capability and integrity of Lt. Gen.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Lt. Gen. Agum Gumelar, Rear Adm. Freddy
Numberi and Gen. Wiranto, their acceptance of the Cabinet posts
defied TNI's stated commitment to leave politics to the
civilians. They are setting a dangerous new precedent which could
be used by junior officers to seek for themselves nonmilitary
posts in central or regional administrations.

While it is unclear what TNI conceded in the formation of the
Cabinet, popular opinion seems to be that TNI gave up a lot,
particularly when one considers that in the past all strategic
Cabinet posts went to the military.

The appointment of respected scholar Juwono Sudarsono as
minister of defense has given the appearance of civilian
supremacy over the military. But as Abdurrahman disclosed, it was
Wiranto himself who put forward Juwono as his successor. Claims
of civilian supremacy over the military must be tempered by the
fact that Juwono is known as a staunch defender of TNI's
political role. He caused an uproar last year when he said
civilians were not as well prepared as the Indonesian Military to
lead the country. Juwono made this statement while serving as
deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute, a military
think tank. He must now prove he is no military lackey.

Fueling the debate over the military's political role was a
statement on Thursday by Maj. Gen. Agus Wirahadikusumah, the
assistant for general planning to the Army chief of staff,
calling for an end to TNI's political role, which he said
prevented the military from improving its professionalism. He
also called for the new military leadership to purge officers
with strong links to the tyrannical New Order regime.

While this view has been raised by critics of the military for
years, it is encouraging to see TNI officers becoming bold enough
to air this same opinion. It remains to be seen how prevalent
this view is among current military leaders, but for TNI's own
sake and survival, military reform should come from within rather
than being imposed from the outside.

The military leadership eventually must come to terms with the
reality that its role in politics in this increasingly complex
world is becoming less and less defensible, particularly in the
democratic new Indonesia. The Assembly has ruled that the
military would be phased out of politics by 2004, and it would
have been ideal to simply leave it to President Abdurrahman to
carry out this mandate. However, the appointment of four active
military officers to the Cabinet indicates that outside pressure
must still be brought to bear upon the military and the new
government to make this goal a reality.