TNI networks in regions 'no longer relevant'

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Military's much-criticized territorial function is no longer relevant in current circumstances since it has gone beyond its original concept, rights activist Munir said here on Tuesday.

Munir said that the Army could no longer maintain its territorial function in numerous organizations in provinces, regencies and rural areas because it would hinder the development of democracy in the reform era.

"In the past, the territorial function was still relevant in order to maintain the new country's sovereignty," he said in a seminar on mass media and the military's internal reform.

He explained that the Army took the territorial concept as part of military doctrine in two seminars it organized in 1965 and 1966. "But the Navy and Air Force knew nothing about the territorial concept. So far, only the Army has taken political advantage of the territorial function," he said.

Munir also criticized the nation's decision to separate the Indonesian Military and the National Police because it has in fact raised numerous problems in the field.

"We have observed how the military and the police have blamed one another for what has happened in Maluku and Aceh," he said, citing that the police have been blamed for what the military has done in the two restive provinces.

During the New Order regime, the military's omnipresent and complex network of control over Indonesia's territory, ranging from the national to village command levels, sparked strong criticism both at home and overseas.

Former president Soeharto had abused the military network in provinces, regencies and rural areas to mobilize people to support the Golkar Party to maintain his power for more than 32 years. Even servicemen were considered cadres of the ruling party.

Meanwhile, Kusnanto Anggoro, a military analyst of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said that TNI could abandon its territorial function in 2015, because the military would need time to make the necessary preparations to do so.

Kusnanto further suggested that in the future, the TNI should develop a concept of military bases in certain provinces and regencies to support its defense function.

"The military bases' structure will depend on the scale of possible threats to the region. The military bases in Java's provinces would be smaller than the ones in Papua and Aceh, two provinces prone to internal and external threats to national defense," he said.

According to him, regions bordering other countries, such as Sabang, Kalimantan, Maluku, North Sulawesi, Papua, and Nusa Tenggara and the northern part of Sumatra, should have military bases to face any possible threats from outside the country.