TNI to continue focusing on internal security

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In contrast to the defense concept earlier outlined in a decree of the People's Consultative Assembly on defense, the Indonesian Military (TNI) will likely stick to its previous policy of maintaining internal security instead of focusing on defending the country from possible external threats.

And as a consequence, the TNI is expecting the government to increase the defense budget by about 10 percent in 2003 on the grounds that maintaining domestic security requires high- capabilities on the part of the military, as well as the National Police", an official said on Monday.

Director General of Defense Strategy at the Ministry of Defense, Maj. Gen. Sudrajat, said TNI headquarters was of the opinion that in the near future Indonesia would not face any external security threats from foreign countries, while at home, "it faces serious domestic threats, including terrorism, illegal migrants and piracy."

Should the government, along with the House of Representatives, approve the proposal, the TNI will get a defense budget of over Rp 10 trillion (US$1.1 billion) next year, compared to Rp 9.4 trillion this year.

Following the separation of the TNI and the National Police in 2000, the Assembly issued Decree No. VII/2000, mandating the TNI to act as a defense force and assigning domestic security responsibilities to the police.

Many have claimed that the military, particularly the Army, would only abuse its power, as happened under the New Order regime, should they be put in charge of civilian issues.

Sudrajat, however, asked the public not to be afraid that the increase in the budget -- which would actually be used to purchase military hardware -- would pave the way for other human rights violations, saying that "the situation is different now with the public being capable of controlling the TNI and demanding more transparency."

"Indonesia has the lowest defense budget among the Southeast Asian states, where each country pays an average of two percent of its GDP for defense. The TNI only gets some one percent of GDP," Sudrajat told The Jakarta Post by phone.

The government has come under fire for its decision to raise the defense budget by 18 percent this year from Rp 7.4 trillion in 2001.

At the time, legislators said that Indonesia did not need powerful armed forces due to sustained peace in Southeast Asia. They also asked the government to double the budget for security and the police, and to make the police more professional in carrying out their duties.

The government, however, only allocated some Rp 5 trillion to the security budget in 2002.

Sudrajat revealed that the government had turned its eyes to other countries -- China, Russia and the Eastern European countries -- as suppliers for its weaponry and military equipment, considering that the TNI had gotten itself into trouble by relying on one country, the United States, along with its allies, for military supplies.

"Once the political ties became disrupted, then we experienced problems with all of our military hardware," Sudrajat said, referring to the military embargo imposed in 1999 by the U.S Congress following the post-ballot gross human rights violations in East Timor, which were blamed on the TNI.