TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Housing: Unfinished task within Indonesian military
The Indonesian Military (TNI) has celebrated its anniversary every Oct
Change Size
T
em>The Indonesian Military (TNI) has celebrated its anniversary every Oct. 5 since its establishment in 1945. The Jakarta Post’s Nani Afrida looks at the issue of housing for military personnel.
At home: Wives of soldiers sit and chat near their houses in the military complex in Srengseng Sawah, South Jakarta. (JP/Nani Afrida)
Little Joko was puzzled when he did not see his father among the dozens of soldiers who had just returned to
a South Jakarta military base in 1977.
Instead of meeting Corporal Tukiyat, Joko only found his father’s backpack and a cage with a songbird in it.
That was when Joko realized he had lost his father, who had been killed in action in East Timor — now Timor Leste, a neighboring country of Indonesia.
Tukiyat left behind nothing of value for his family.
They lived in military housing near the base, but in 2005, the TNI asked them to move as the house was to be occupied by the family of an active-service soldier.
Since then, Joko and his mother have lived in small rented houses, moving from one place to another every time the rent went up.
“Sometimes I think this is unfair. My father gave his life for this country but the country didn’t take care of us,” he said, adding that former officers and their families were hardly ever kicked out of their official residences.
Such occasional eviction orders in military complexes as do occur make the headlines as Navy, Air Force or Army officers and their families protest eviction orders.
Tukiyat’s family is one among many families of lower-ranking veterans who have faced a similar fate.
TNI spokesperson Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul said the TNI allowed retired soldiers and families of deceased personnel to occupy their official residences until the death of the late soldier’s widow.
However, as in the case of Joko, families have been required to leave their homes even though the widow was still alive.
Defense expert Jaleswari Pra-modhawardani told The Jakarta Post that the problems surrounding military housing were caused by inconsistent regulations and policies.
“The policy largely depends on the local commander, it is no wonder there is a problem between policy and field execution,” said the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher.
Over 400,000 soldiers and 60,000 civil servants are on the Defense Ministry’s payroll.
The ministry noted that less than 22 percent of active soldiers lived in military housing. Often the distance between the housing and the relevant military base is a problem.
TNI spokesman Iskandar Sitompul said the TNI preferred to have soldiers live near their bases to ease deployment in emergency operations.
With so many homes occupied by families of retired soldiers, unsurprisingly the TNI has problems, especially so when the occupants are retired generals and their families.
“We know that these official residences are mostly occupied by their children as their parents have already passed away,” Iskandar said.
He also cited examples of military housing being converted into businesses like restaurants, car repair shops or laundry outlets.
In Bandung, Iskandar said many T-shirt outlets were built on military-owned land.
“We really have to repossess those properties because their function has been changed. No matter whether the soldiers [occupying the buildings] are still active or retired,” he said.
Tubagus Hasanuddin, the deputy chairman of House of Representatives’ Commission I overseeing defense and foreign affairs, said the House was setting up a committee to help resolve the protracted problem of military housing.
Tubagus, himself a former military intelligence officer, said land ownership was another related problem. Previously, soldiers had been allowed to construct or restore homes on state land, and consequently, their families refused to move on when requested.
To address the projected lack of housing, the TNI would construct low-cost apartments, Tubagus said.
Iskandar said the TNI would encourage active-duty soldiers to buy their homes through low-cost mortgages.
“We have built many military housing complexes in West Java for instance,” Iskandar said.
