| |
Indonesia's military: Business as
usual
By Richel Langit
JAKARTA - Barring the unexpected, Indonesia's
powerful military will officially quit politics in 2004,
five years ahead of the original schedule of 2009.
At the end of nearly two weeks of deliberations,
Indonesia's highest legislative body, the 700-member
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), last weekend
passed 14 amendments to the constitution that included
direct elections for president and the removal of the
military and police from political life.
For
civil-society groups and university students who
spearheaded the country's reform movement in 1998, the
military's exit from politics is a dream come true. They
have long campaigned for the scrapping of Indonesian
military's (TNI) free seats in both the House of
Representatives (DPR) and the MPR, the country's highest
legislative body.
But given the country's
situation, the Indonesian military's exit from the MPR,
where currently it has 38 seats, is likely to boost,
rather than lessen, its role in the country's political
life.
TNI is the only most organized and
disciplined political entity in the country that parties
and civilian politicians have to reckon with. In fact,
TNI has always been perceived as the only institution
that can keep Indonesia united by putting an end to the
ethnic and religious conflicts that have plagued the
country since 1990s.
This situation is
compounded by the fact that the country's civilian
politicians are very weak - young and inexperienced -
and are greatly divided because of their irreconcilable
political differences.
Despite their claims,
these politicians are incapable of running the country
without the support of the military. So, come election
time in 2004, these civilian politicians are likely to
seek the military's support before running for the
presidential and vice presidential posts as well as
other high positions. Already early this week, Golkar,
which served as former dictator Suharto's political
bandwagon, recruited a retired army general as its
general secretary, a move aimed at forging an alliance
with TNI.
The trouble is that politicians will
have to negotiate individually with the military and,
given their weak bargaining position, will have to make
political concessions with the military - including
allowing the military to play a significant role in
government - in order to win its support. The military
will certainly throw its support behind presidential or
vice presidential aspirants who make most political
concessions.
This will bode well with the
military's desire to stay in politics as long as
possible. Just one week before MPR members were to
convene to endorse amendments to the 1945 constitution,
TNI chief General Endriartono Sutarto and police chief
General Da'i Bachtiar invited chief editors of virtually
all newspapers, magazines, and television and radio
stations in Jakarta for a news conference. At the news
conference, Sutarto called for a return to the 1945
constitution since, according to them, the fourth phase
of constitutional amendment process had strayed from its
original course.
A return to the 1945
constitution would had annulled the amendments affecting
TNI's free seat in MPR, allowing it to stay in the MPR
and DPR as long as possible.
Indeed, the
military's exit from the MPR in 2004 comes as a logical
consequence of the Assembly's decision to change the
composition of the MPR into the House of Representatives
(DPR) and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD)
rather than military's conscious efforts to leave the
political arena.
Under the new MPR composition
agreed in the fourth stage of constitutional amendment
and endorsed in the recently concluded MPR annual
session, all members of both the DPR and DPD will be
elected directly by the people during general elections.
The agreement leaves no room for non-elected MPR
factions such the military/police and the
interest-groups factions to stay in MPR. All 38 of the
current MPR representatives of the military/police
faction were appointed.
TNI wants to stay in
politics as long as possible because it wants to protect
its economic interests - especially business enterprises
- which had come under severe public scrutiny after the
forced resignation of authoritarian leader Suharto in
May 1998.
Through numerous cooperatives and
foundations, TNI runs a wide range of business
undertakings and invests in a number of state-owned
enterprises.
The army's Strategic Reserve
Command (Kostrad) currently controls 22 companies,
including an insurance company. Run by a foundation
called Darma Putra Foundation (YDPK), Kostrad also has
considerable shares in a number of state-owned
enterprises. YDPK itself was set up in 1964 by Suharto
when he was still an army major. Together with its
business partner, ethnic-Chinese Liem Sioe Liong, the
foundation founded the Windu Kencana bank and two
airline companies.
The Indonesian army has been
involved in business since the 1970s. Through the
Kartika Eka Paksi Foundation (YKEP), the army now owns a
total of 26 firms and seven joint ventures. Currently,
YKEP has two big companies - PT Bank Artha Graha and PT
Danayasa Arthatama - which constructed an integrated
business district worth US$3.25 billion at the heart of
Jakarta's financial center.
Not to be outwitted,
the country's navy also set up a foundation called the
Bhumyamca Foundation. Currently the foundation oversees
a total of five firms with combined assets of about
Rp200 billion or $25 million. The air force has the Adi
Upaya Foundation, which controls 17 firms, including a
bank. The country's police has the Bhakti Brata
Foundation, which has 10 firms, also including a bank -
Bank Yudha Bhakti.
Since the reform movement
started in 1998, the involvement of TNI and the police
in business endeavors have been roundly criticized and
blamed for their poor performance in maintaining peace
and order throughout the country. Some analysts have
charged that high-ranking officers are so busy doing
business that they neglect their own duties.
Calls are also mounting that these foundations
be handed over to the state so that both the military
and police are not involved in business anymore. But the
TNI leadership has resisted that call, arguing that the
businesses are needed to augment security personnel's
income.
Clearly, the military will use every
means available to protect their economic interests,
including entering into alliances with civilian
politicians. In so doing, the military will eventually
return to politics.
(©2002 Asia Times Online Co,
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication
policies.)
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
