Sentani incident : Soldiers’ welfare needs attention

Rizal Sukma ,  JAKARTA   |  Tue, 05/05/2009 9:46 AM  |  Headlines

If a group of ordinary people went on a rampage, we would expect the police to handle the problem. But, when dozens of armed soldiers run amok, then we all have a problem. That was the problem when a number of soldiers from the Army’s Infantry Battalion 751 in Sentani, Papua, expressed their anger by staging a violent protest last week. During the incident, they destroyed infrastructure within the military compound and injured the deputy commander of the battalion.

Media reports suggested that the violent protest was triggered by the actions of the troops’ commander, Lt. Col. Lambok Sihotang, who had collected money from them to cover air transportation and funeral expenses for their fellow soldiers.

It was reported that the soldiers were protesting over the alleged embezzlement of their money by Sihotang.

The Army’s quick response to the incident, especially the removal of Sihotang from his position, is commendable. The Army leadership has begun to investigate the case, and promised to take stern action against those responsible. The soldiers have also been subject to disciplinary and administrative sanctions.

The process of looking into the problem, however, should not stop there. What happened in Sentani is only the tip of the iceberg. If the soldiers’ accusations about their commanding officer’s embezzlement, especially by means of cutting their monthly salaries, are true, then there is an urgent need for the military leadership to undertake a thorough investigation far beyond the Sentani case.

One area of investigation should be whether the alleged practice of a commanding officer cutting soldiers’ salaries is an exception, and only happened at Army Battalion 751 in Sentani, or the norm.

Soldiers in other parts of the country should be encouraged to come forward and report to the military leadership if similar cases occur. This country does not need a “tradition” whereby leaders continue to demand that their subordinates bring “tributes” (upeti) to their commanders. This practice should not be tolerated and has to be eradicated.

Indeed, it is sad to learn that the military has only very limited resources to take care of its own members. It is public knowledge that a soldier’s basic salary barely covers his daily needs.

Being forced to contribute to expenditure that should be the responsibility of the government is certainly adding insult to injury. While still unacceptable, it is easy to understand why the soldiers are angry and disappointed.

The incident raises the question of the government’s inability and commitment to provide
for soldiers’ welfare and respect their basic human rights. A substantial increase in soldiers’ salaries in the near future is still constrained by the state’s limited financial
resources. Indonesia’s defense budget is already ranked second or third largest within the overall national budget. Other similarly urgent national priorities have made it difficult for the government to allocate more resources to the military.

Indeed, the state is still struggling to find ways to compensate the soldiers properly and decently. We cannot expect soldiers to perform professionally with a payment of around Rp1.5 million (US$140) a month! However, it is also absurd to suggest that military commanders should be able to look for additional funding to compensate their soldiers and cover
their needs.

Given such circumstances, addressing the problem of an “inadequate” defense budget, therefore, should start by looking at the allocation of available resources within the defense budget itself. There is a need to assess whether the defense budget is not “adequate” due to the problem with the current force level and size of the TNI. For example, there might be a need for a force reduction, especially in the Army, so that the budget could be used efficiently to boost capability and welfare. Equally important, the government should step up its efforts to eradicate corruption practices within the rank and file.

Such steps would require an overhaul in the system of defence planning, programming and budgeting. This is not an easy task. However, if the problem of welfare is to be given a high priority in future defense planning, then it has to be done. This should constitute a challenging agenda for the new government in the post-2009 elections. Otherwise, what happened in Sentani will not be the last such incident.

The writer is an executive director at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta.

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