LAKSAMANA.Net, September 17, 2002 04:02 AM
Military Denies Engineering Conflicts
September 17, 2002 04:02 AM
Laksamana.Net - Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) commander General Endriartono
Sutarto denies the military has been masterminding violence in several regions to
maintain its political power.
"If we wanted to cling to power, we don’t have to do it by resorting to such methods.
We would have just used our weapons. We have enough weapons, even though they
are obsolete," he was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara on Monday
(16/9/02).
He insisted that TNI doesn’t need to engineer security disturbances to enhance its
wealth or political power.
"Admittedly we could engineer anything. But it would be weak, because our budget is
low. There are many soldiers who are fighting against separatists with a low budget,"
he said.
Sutarto said TNI will stick to its role in supporting the government’s policies on
dealing with communal conflicts, instead of taking advantage from the violence.
"The government should consider the military’s fate. What does it want to do for the
military? To make it weak or make it stronger? Everything depends on the
government. Whatever the government does, TNI will accept it," he said.
Rogue generals have been accused of engineering and prolonging religious violence
that has claimed about 9,000 lives in the Maluku islands and Central Sulawesi since
early 1999.
Analysts say this ability to control the level of regional violence gives the military
considerable influence over the government.
The military is also accused of creating security disturbances in the rebellious
provinces of Aceh and Papua to justify attacks on separatist groups and to demand
greater security payments from multinational oil/gas and mining firms.
Furthermore, the military is said to be involved in illegal logging in Papua and in the
drugs trade in Aceh.
A breakdown in law and order in several regions following the May 1998 downfall of
former autocrat Suharto has enabled the military to demand a greater budget without
having to publicly account for how its funds are used (or misused).
President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who partly owes her rise to power to the armed
forces, plans to increase routine military expenditure from Rp9.5 trillion ($1.07 billion)
this year to Rp17.8 trillion (more than $2 billion) next year. She also wants to double
the military’s maintenance and procurement budget from Rp2.2 trillion to Rp4.4
trillion.
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