TNI remains powerful, no headway in reforms

Muhammad Nafik and Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Efforts to put the country's powerful military (TNI) under civilian supremacy remain largely ineffectual four years after the nation embarked on a reform movement marked by the fall of former dictator Soeharto, analysts say.

They insist that TNI is irrefutably still and will remain the country's most influential political force.

"Reforms within the TNI are still on the surface, but substantially there are no reforms yet," military analyst Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He admitted that the TNI had introduced many changes in the past four years, such as progressive policies on politics, bureaucracy and legal aspects, but the "reforms" have "not been internalized or passed down the chain of command."

"We know that many military members are still practicing dwi fungsi or the dual function doctrine," he said referring to the disbanded doctrine wherein members of the military were allowed and encouraged to hold political leadership posts.

Kusnanto said although the military planned to step away from the House of Representatives (DPR) and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) by 2004, it could seek new "political concessions".

"Formally the TNI has quit politics but informally it would continue exerting its political influence, particularly through the Regional Representatives Council (DPD)," he added.

Under the latest constitutional amendment, the DPD along with the House will make up the MPR, the nation's highest legislative body, after the 2004 general elections. Any individual, including retired generals, can be elected as a DPD member.

Political analyst Daniel Sparingga from Airlangga University in Surabaya shared a similar view, saying TNI's internal reform program had almost came to a complete halt due to complicated problems from within and outside the military, including its extremely tight budget and the powerlessness of civilian leaders.

"Reforms in TNI are at a standstill, although the spirit of reforms among its leaders is extraordinary. It's not a matter of reluctance but they do not know what to do. They need assistance," he told the Post.

Daniel said the pledge by TNI leaders to quit practical politics, push for the transitional process and review its conventional doctrine for soldiers was part of the good spirit of reforms, but this appeared to be fruitless.

Another political analyst Hermawan Sulistyo of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said TNI's internal reforms were shallow at best.

The TNI has a different idea of reforms, which is not about coming under civilian rule, he argued. "They (TNI) officially call this (reform) shifting from occupying to influencing," he said.

Hermawan said that despite the military's move to stop occupying strategic seats in the bureaucracy and legislative bodies, it did not mean that it would halt imposing its influence on civilians there.

"They (the military) will do it by forceful lobbying of politicians," he said.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri's full support of the military showed that the TNI still holds powerful political influence.

Daniel said that in certain macro-policies such as the replacement or appointment of its top leaders, TNI was prepared to bow to civilian rule.

"But in the aspects of territorial operations, they are still not under control. Ambon and Aceh are such cases. The civilian government lacks any influence on how to deal with conflicts there," he added.

Daniel theorized that the military was actually willing to come under civilian rule so long as the political leaders were credible and trustworthy.

"There are hints among military leaders that they have less faith in the civilian leadership because it has not been performing well over the last four years."

Efforts to improve TNI's professionalism, often blamed for human rights abuses and involvement in illegal practices across the country, have not been a priority of its reforms.

They said the latest attack by troops on police stations in the North Sumatra town of Binjai, which killed eight people, was hard evidence that the TNI, particularly the Army, is unprofessional and facing a "serious demoralization".

Critics have also urged the military to be stripped of control of its business empires, the size of which was still unknown.

However, serious responses to the demands have been too slow partly due to the limited state budget that has forced the military to cover around 70 percent of its expenditures through mostly illegal rackets.

On Thursday, a group of political analysts from CSIS and the Indonesian Institute of Science urged the military to exercise its voting rights in the 2004 general election.

Kusnanto and his colleague Edy Prasetyono from CSIS said that since the TNI had yet to undertake sweeping internal reforms, exercising its right to vote could trigger cracks within its forces and affect democratic elections.

Last August, TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto called on his troops not to vote in the next elections for fear that they would be overly influenced by political parties.

But Kusnanto and Edy said the decision on whether or not TNI would be allowed to vote should be left to the House, not the military commander.

"The suspension or the use of the military's right to vote in the 2004 election should be based on a political decision, not on a policy taken by the TNI chief," Edy said.

Kusnanto said the military must rearrange its institutional structure before using the voting rights or otherwise its intervention in and partiality with certain political parties during the elections would be unavoidable.