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Surplus of officers pushes TNI into civilian sphere
Deep thinkers: Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) executive director Philips J
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span class="inline inline-center">Deep thinkers: Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) executive director Philips J. Vermonte (center), CSIS senior researcher Evan A. Laksmana (left) and Indonesian Defense University lecturer Kusnanto Anggoro speak before the press at the CSIS office in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, on Thursday. The CSIS has released its latest research reported titled The Anatomy and Pattern of Job Transfers and Promotions for Indonesian Military Officers.(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
The lack of available positions for high-ranking military officers is correlated to the growing role of military members in civilian offices over the past few years, a study has suggested.
The expansion of the role of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in civilian affairs has brought back memories of the military’s “dual function” role during the New Order Era, which was tainted by violence and human rights violations.
According to a recent study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), from 2005 to 2016 there were 4,233 high-ranking officers who changed positions, but a majority of them, amounting to 2,249, only received horizontal job transfers. It is estimated that 1,863 officers even received different positions at the same level at least two to three times a year.
During the second term of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from 2009 to 2014, job transfers of high-ranking officers vastly outnumbered job promotions, meaning that most of the officers only changed to positions of the same level.
The research also found that there were not enough available positions to accommodate the “surplus” of high-ranking officers from the academy batch of 1987 to 1988.
These findings support a report that concludes that the lack of positional promotions led to an effort to send military officers into civilian positions to ease the “logjam”, CSIS senior researcher Evan A. Laksmana said during the release of the report on Thursday.
After the military’s dual function was scrapped following the reform era, the “strategic” positions in the TNI were reduced, while at the same time the number of military academy graduates entering the force increased over time, Evan added.
The TNI had an excess of more than 100 military officers per year consisting of mainly one-star generals and colonels from the Army, and officers of equal rank in the Navy and Air Force from 1998.
“There is a need to ensure that some military officers do not remain idle in the TNI and that they still have activities to carry out,” Evan told reporters on Thursday.
He went on to sat that even though during the Yudhoyono administration the transfer of officers was fluid, Yudhoyono asserted that TNI members should remain professional and should not get involved in politics.
However, during President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration, this approach seems to have been left behind. Today, promotions happen for officers who are involved in civilian spheres.
“We can understand why there should be new territorial commands, or why the Defense Ministry suggested the establishment of local offices and more TNI officers entering state ministries,” Evan said.
Since Jokowi took office, the military has increasingly carried out civilian functions such as guarding prisons, helping farmers plant rice and securing railway networks and public transportation.
The TNI has also become gradually involved in civilian sectors through the signing of agreements with ministries and state institutions. For example, the TNI signed an agreement with the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) to help it win with the country’s war on drugs. It has also signed an agreement with the National Police’s Detachment-88 to combat terrorism.
Al Araf, the director of watchdog Imparsial, said the government should carry out reform within the TNI so that the military could focus on building its defense capacities as opposed to getting involved in public affairs.
“But we should also scrutinize whether the involvement of military members in civilian spheres is a result of such logjams or whether it is because there are political factors behind the TNI’s wish to have more of a role political life, such as in the New Order,” Al Araf said.
Defense analyst Kusnanto Anggoro said the involvement of military members in civilian life should only be implemented in certain regions, such as in conflict areas or border areas.
Otherwise, Kusnanto said, in the long term view, an increased presence of the TNI in civilian life could debase the competence of TNI members because they would spend their time functioning as civil servants instead of training for war.
TNI spokesperson Maj. Gen. Wuryanto was not available for comment.
