TNI urged to dissolve military commands
JAKARTA (JP): Fresh demands are mounting for the Indonesian Military (TNI) to phase out its territorial operations on the grounds that the system is outdated and pulls the military into political activities.
Speaking at a seminar held by the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas), Lt. Gen. (ret) Sayidiman Soerjohadiprodjo, former TNI chief of sociopolitical affairs, suggested that the territorial function could be conducted by a special force whose members would be recruited from the Army, Air Force and Navy.
He said the special force's mission would be aimed at defending the country's sovereignty.
"The special troops would fall under the direct command of the TNI chief and would be deployed in the case of an emergency. The presence of regional, district and subdistrict military commands and soldiers in villages is no longer necessary," Sayidiman said.
Territorial military commands have been widely criticized for discouraging a civil society and justifying the military's dominant role in sociopolitical affairs.
The country currently has 11 regional military commands, hundreds of military district and subdistrict commands and has thousands of soldiers deployed in villages across the archipelago.
Sayidiman said now that the reform movement was underway, TNI should go back to the basic function of defense and develop its professionalism in order to improve its image.
Asked about TNI's future role, he said the military should focus on its defense function.
"Besides internal reform, TNI should focus on training programs to produce professional soldiers and improve its intelligence function to detect any threats to national unity. Intelligence officers should master foreign languages," he said.
To improve personnel competence, Sayidiman suggested that TNI reform its education curriculum to produce professional and intelligent officers.
"The present military academies should be dissolved and replaced by a military university to produce professional cadets at an undergraduate level. Talented officers should be allowed to take a post-graduate program at the Staff and Command School (Sesko)," he said.
Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said territorial military commands should be dissolved because of their political interests.
"The territorial function has been widely perceived as a form of militarism in provinces and regencies, since military commanders play a key role in the decision-making process in local administrations," she said.
Dewi warned that regional autonomy would not proceed successfully if the present territorial system was maintained.
"Regional autonomy will bring nothing to the people as long as the military still dominates the policy and decision-making process in regions," she said.
She suggested that the House of Representatives draw up a new security law regulating military deployment in a state of emergency at home.
The government of former president B.J. Habibie failed to pass the 1998 State Security Bill into law due to widespread protests. Dewi, a close aide to Habibie, said the bill would have clearly regulated military deployment in the case of an emergency.
"The bill was rejected not because of its content but because it was proposed by the military, whose image was badly tarnished," Dewi said.
Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Agus Widjojo, TNI chief of territorial affairs, said the current territorial system was open to change because of its temporary nature.
"We need an acceptable and legitimate territorial security arrangement to handle security problems in the future. We should no longer depend on personal opinions on how the territorial system should work," he said.
He suggested that the House carry out an objective evaluation of the military's territorial function before scrapping it.
"If it is deemed necessary, there should be some conditions on how it should work. But if it has to be abolished, all things regarding security matters should be entrusted to local administrations and the National Police," he said. (rms)