T

he government’s plan to set up defense offices at the provincial level, and deploy active soldiers to run them, has raised suspicions that the Indonesian Military (TNI) is attempting to intervene once again in civilian administrative matters.

The plan became known following the revelation of an official letter from Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, a retired Army general, to TNI commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo, requesting the latter to assign soldiers to lead the Defense Ministry’s provincial branches.

The issuance of the letter dated May 13 caused concern, particularly given the recent arrests by military personnel of civilians in various parts of the country for allegedly promoting communist ideology.

Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Djundan Eko Bintoro confirmed the plan to set up provincial defense offices, saying it was aimed at boosting “defense services” at the regional level.

He added the ministry would appoint one-star generals to lead its offices in Aceh, East Java, East Kalimantan, Jakarta, Papua, Riau Islands and West Kalimantan.

Meanwhile, colonels would run the offices in the remaining 27 provinces.

The plan immediately caused alarm among activists, who questioned the urgency, or indeed need, for establishing the provincial defense offices and more especially the appointment of active soldiers to represent the ministry, which is supposedly a civilian institution.

“Defense is among the matters that are not subject to decentralization. Thus, it is better to keep it centralized and let the ministry operate only at the central level,” said Al Araf from Imparsial.

The executive director of the Jakarta-based human rights watchdog, which focuses on military reform, said the plan could lead to an overlap of functions between the soldiers in the existing regional military commands (Kodam) and those in the new defense offices.

Thus, Al Araf suggested the ministry focus on its job of formulating defense policies needed to face security threats from outside the country instead of “creating the perception that it is combating internal problems deemed to pose a threat to the country’s security”.

Defense observer Mufti Makarim likewise criticized the plan, saying it was part of the efforts by the TNI to regain influence over public life.

“That is the problem of appointing a conservative retired army general like Ryamizard to lead an institution that is by concept a civil one,” Mufti said.

Then president Abdurrahman Wahid appointed Juwono Sudarsono in 1999 as the first civilian defense minister, breaking the military’s decades-long dominance of ministerial posts.

Mufti added that there was also an effort to allow soldiers to serve in civilian offices, such as by proposing a draft law to permit active military personnel to run in regional elections. The debate on the issue is still ongoing.

In addition, Mufti further cited a number of agreements involving the military and several government institutions that allow for the deployment of troops to safeguard public infrastructure such as railway stations, harbors and airports.

The military may even get involved in matters utterly unrelated to defense affairs, such as family planning programs, following its agreement with the National Family Planning Agency (BKKBN).

“I personally see these indications as an attempt by the military to regain power,” Mufti said.

“Who can guarantee that the [Defense Ministry] provincial offices will not be used as a way to deal with, for example, ideological matters in the regions?”

However, Djundan of the ministry totally rejected such claims, explaining that the regional offices were meant to ensure the effective and appropriate implementation of the ministry’s defense policies throughout the archipelago.

In support of the plan he cited the 2012 ministerial decree on the establishment of regional defense offices, the 2002 Defense Law and the 2008 State Ministries Law, which all have stipulations justifying the ministry’s decision to set up representative offices in all of the country’s 34 provinces.

“This is nothing out of the ordinary. It’s been ongoing for four years by the way,” he said, insisting that at no time did the ministry’s representatives overlap with district military commands.

“The Kodam are still in charge of in-field operations while we are simply coordinating policies”.
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