T

em>The three presidential hopefuls have kicked off their campaigns with heavy contributions from retired top brass from the intelligence community. The involvement of former top commanders has resulted in a clandestine war of strategies since before the legislative elections on April 9. The Jakarta Post's Rendi A. Witular takes a look at the figures moving the pawns on the chessboard of the political arena, and the campaign strategies being applied on the ground. Here are the stories.

The ancient Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu once said that victory in a battle was decided not on the battlefield, but in the preparation.

Ingrained with this teaching ever since their first years as cadets, presidential hopeful Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and rival vice presidential hopefuls Gen. (ret) Wiranto and Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto have called on a host of retired military top brass as their trusted advisers to put Sun Tzu's doctrine to work in securing the presidency.

As the incumbent, President Yudhoyono has the upper hand in applying his intelligence strategy long before the election, apparent in his Democratic Party's almost threefold surge in votes as it swept the April polls.

Dubbed a "silent operation" by his inner circle, Yudhoyono*s strategy includes not only mapping out and identifying potential sources of votes, but also the strengths and weaknesses of his rivals, according to a Democratic Party legislator.

"It's obvious we've employed retired military generals for intelligence gathering. We've been working *on the legislative and presidential elections* since long before voting day," says Democratic Party spokesman Max Sopacua, who has been with Yudhoyono since the 2004 elections.

"We're applying Sun Tzu's philosophy; winning a war is not decided in battle, but in how it is prepared."

In 2005, Yudhoyono, who spent most of his military career in the territorial ranks, began assembling his retired military peers with intelligence background to design a strategy for a victory in 2009.

Among them, according to his election team, are Maj. Gen. (ret) Achdari, deputy chief of the Indonesian Military's (TNI) intelligence agency (Bais) in 1994; Maj. Gen. (ret) Sardan Marbun, director of the TNI's intelligence center between 1999-2000; and Maj. Gen. (ret) Soeprapto, a former assistant personnel to the Army chief of staff between 2000 to 2001.

Besides buffing Yudhoyono's image, their job also includes recruiting high-profile figures and compiling information on potential threats from political rivals.

The Golkar Party, chaired by rival candidate Jusuf Kalla, once accused Yudhoyono's inner circle of masterminding internal rifts, through intelligence-style operations, in Golkar, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP).

Presidential spokesman and Democratic Party executive Andi Mallarangeng has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Analysts say Yudhoyono's squad of former spooks may have met their match in the lineup picked by Prabowo, the running mate of presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Gen. (ret.) Hendropriyono, former head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) between 2001 and 2004, Maj. Gen (ret) Theo Syafei, former Udayana military commander between 1993 and 1994, and Maj. Gen. (ret) Muchdi Purwopranjono, former TNI Special Forces (Kopassus) commander in 1998, are lending their considerable talents to the Megawati-Prabowo team.

Prabowo, himself a legendary Kopassus commander between 1995 and 1998, is spearheading the campaign team by drawing up its tactics and on-the-ground execution.

"The experiences of the retired generals in the race are shaping the style of the campaign," says ProPatria Institute military analyst Hari Prihatono.

"For instance, Megawati and Prabowo tend to apply lethal, sudden attacks because of the strong Kopassus influence there."

Other examples include the raising of "neoliberalism" and "pro-foreigner" allegations against the team of Yudhoyono and Boediono, the US-educated former central bank governor.

"Yudhoyono's team prefers a more drawn-out territorial strategy, in which they lay the groundwork in peace time and before any war erupts," Hari says.

"The team works mostly in a defensive mode, as stability and control are their utmost priorities."

The third team in the equation, that of Kalla and his running mate Wiranto, tend to be less aggressive than the Megawati-Prabowo ticket, Hari says, perhaps because of Wiranto's character being shaped within the Army's strategic reserves, or Kostrad.

But analysts believe the military nuances in the Kalla-Wiranto ticket are less pronounced that in the two other tickets due to Kalla's astuteness in engineering political ploys.

"Kalla doesn't need military-style strategies to win the election. He is by nature a smart guy. Wiranto is on board to help deal with voters in Java," says businessman Sofjan Wanandi, part of the inner circle of Kalla's campaign team.

Political analyst Maswadi Rauf of the University of Indonesia says Kalla is catching up fast, jacking up his low popularity through the use of more concrete actions, comical speeches and punchy comments for the media to devour.

"If the other candidates don't adapt to Kalla's style, they risk losing a lot," Maswadi says.

"And I guess Kalla's strategy isn't engineered by former military top brass."

Maswadi stresses the "star war" between former officers is necessary to nurture democracy, as long as active TNI officers do not join the fray.

"The good thing is these former generals are spread across several parties. It would be perilous if all of them backed just one party," he says.

"They can also prevent each other from recruiting active TNI and police officers."

Despite the glistening show-within-a-show, the TNI and the police are unlikely to improve in terms of structure and welfare.

"In their time, these former generals failed to make the TNI a more professional institution," Hari says.

"Whatever they're playing at now, the TNI will remain in a poor state regardless of the pledges they made to fix it."

- Additional reporting by Erwida Maulia and Alfian