TNI networks in regions 'no longer relevant'

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.