The Australian, September 30, 2002
Indonesian forces in graft war
By Sian Powell
TURF wars over extortion rackets often trigger armed clashes between the Indonesian
military and the nation's police force, a conference on the weekend was told.
Harold Crouch, of the Australian National University, is a former chief of the
International Crisis Group's Indonesia Project and a world authority on the Indonesian
military. He told the annual Indonesia Update conference in Canberra that a shortfall in
government funding had pushed the army and police into crime, and clashes between
them often led to shootouts and fatalities.
Only 30 per cent of military costs are funded by the Indonesian Government, and units
within the Indonesian military have independently resorted to extortion, prostitution,
gambling and smuggling to fund their operations.
Marcus Mietzner, also from the Australian National University, told the conference the
Indonesian military's claim that it relied on authorised foundations and businesses for
funds was highly suspect.
According to audit results released recently, nearly all these foundations and
business were "technically bankrupt", Mr Mietzner said.
Professor Crouch said the main source of military income was from "illegal activities,
which can only be called extortion". These range from extorting money from large
multinational mining and petro-chemical companies to running gambling dens and
overseeing smuggling operations. Huge mark-ups were also routinely added to military
purchases.
"Manufacturing and commercial enterprises in cities and towns are also 'taxed' by the
military and police, while illegal taxes are routinely extracted at ports and from land
transport companies," he said.
"Security personnel are deeply involved in illegal logging, mining, fishing, cattle
rustling and smuggling. And, at the lowest level, military and police officers either
control or provide 'backing' for illegal gambling, narcotics and prostitution."
He said that as well as controlling its own funding, there was speculation the
Indonesian military deliberately maintained bubbling conflict in the troubled areas of
Aceh, Maluku and Papua, partly to demonstrate the necessity of a powerful army.
"This is not to say that the military wants an all-out war in these regions, but a
continuing atmosphere of tension and uncertainty makes it much easier to extract
contributions," Professor Crouch said. "Giant foreign petro-chemical or mining
enterprises, for example, would be unlikely to make large payments to military officers
if they felt no threat to their security."
In an atmosphere of uncertainty, violence and tension, he said, criminal activity was
easier, and constraints were loosened on activities such as smuggling, trading in
marijuana or selling arms and bullets to combatants in ethnic conflicts.
Professor Crouch said that although the Indonesian Government had resisted
demands for the introduction of a military emergency in Aceh, and the escalation of
the Maluku emergency from "civil" to "military" status, in practice the provinces were
under military control.
The behaviour of the security forces in these regional conflicts had been very poor, he
added, with examples of serious indiscipline condoned by commanders; "sweeps" for
weapons becoming looting expeditions and road blocks turning into a means of
extracting "tolls".
"In Maluku in particular," he said, "military and police personnel often joined their
co-religionists in battles or at least supplied them with weapons."
© The Australian
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