[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Military Businesses and the Reform Process
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 09:50:32 +0200
** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List **
** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi:
** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ **
** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral
scholarship, kunjungi
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com
**http://www.juwonosudarsono.com/archives/2006/06/military_businesses_and_the_re_1.php
Military Businesses and the Reform Process
06:47 AM |
Friday
23
June
2006
No defense ministry and defense force in all of South East Asia has been
subjected to more international scrutiny about its role in the life of the
country than the Indonesian Defence Force (Tentara Nasional Indonesia). Since
President Soeharto, a retired general, stepped down in May, 1998, the TNI
reform process has been periodically in the forefront of news coverage by
national and international media, none more so than the of the "military
businesses" owned, operated by or linked to any one of the tri-services, Army,
Navy and Air Force.
Most domestic and foreign analysts, particularly NGOs, incessantly find fault
with almost anything and everything the TNI (especially the army) did, is doing
and will do in the future. The anti-military tone is partly in the nature of
most NGOs anywhere, and is deeply rooted in the liberal western lexicon of
"civilian supremacy" or "civilian control" and the predictable language of
"transparency and accountability. Much of the reporting of the TNI__most
recently revealed in the June 2006 Human Rights Watch Report entitled "Too High
a Price: The Human rights Costs of the Indonesian Military's Economic
Activities" is coloured in the HRW report, the phraseology of which draws upon
events that took place in Indonesia before May 1998.
As expected, HRW's report starts with the predictable "front-loading" of its
title report, as if all of Indonesia's military businesses were always
systematically linked to human rights abuses. Words such as "mafia-like
behaviour" are laced through the report's pages with nary a single reference to
the realities that in most instances throughout Indonesia's earlier history in
the mid-1950s down through mid 2006, many of the cooperatives and foundations
(not all of them outright businesses such as the title of the report ominously
insinuates) helped support TNI tactical units in providing in-kind support to
low-income soldiers, help provide education to poor families and, in many
instances outside of Java, provide soldiers as teachers of Bahasa Indonesia and
arithmetic, the building of irrigation and water supply, bridges and schools.
From the outset the Indonesian Defense Force has never had a decent budget to
provide a security and defence service as part of the provision of a public
good to enable an environment wherein development, stability and civil
liberties can flourish. Since the mid-1950s, no Indonesian government has been
able to provide the police and the defence force with an adequate budget to
provide that public service.
The HRW June 2006 report is understandably unsympathetic to such realities,
given that its framework and paradigm rests on the assumption of standards of
"professionalism and transparency" taken for granted in developed countries.
HRW Asia was also mindful that in the wake of the TNI's exemplary role in the
rescue and rehabilitation efforts of the post Tsunami in Aceh in 2004-2005 and
the recent earthquake in Central Java, the TNI's image at home and abroad had
soared. The lifting of the US restriction of spare parts to the TNI also took
the wind of the anti-Indonesian lobby in the US and Western Europe.
All in all, the content and tenor of the HRW 2006 report is both predictable
and disappointing. When I served in London as ambassador, I had many meetings
with NGOs and human rights activists (including HRW Asia) about the TNI, its
role in the reform of political life in Indonesia. Including the divestment of
the TNI's businesses. The language and lexicon of most of the groups I met came
right through a time warp of 1990-1998. They simply could not and would not
accept the notion that the TNI was the pioneer of political reform, and none
more so when under Lieut.General S.B. Yudhoyono during his tenure as TNI chief
of territorial affairs in 1997-1998. Human rights groups also would not
acknowledge the UN Human Rights Summit formulation in June 1993 that human
rights constituted "civil, political, economic, social cultural rights in an
integrated, inseparable and balanced manner".
But then HRW thrives on focusing civil and political rights infringements
because their bread and butter heavily relies on emphasising those
infringements that are much more appealing, dramatic and headline grabbing.
Besides, who would want to read about the TNI's successes in separating
sectarian groups from killing one another in Sulawesi or Ambon. What
Congressman in the US or parliamentarian in Europe would care about a TNI
soldiers toils in helping villagers build irrigation, shelters and wooden
bridges in the boondocks of Borneo. No editor in the newsrooms of satellite TV
or print media in the liberal press would dream of providing a favourable
paragraph or two about the TNI. The TNI will remain whipping boy for many NGOs
and western media for a long time to come.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/BRUplB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia
***************************************************************************
__________________________________________________________________________
Mohon Perhatian:
1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik)
2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari.
3. Reading only, http://dear.to/ppi
4. Satu email perhari: ppiindia-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
5. No-email/web only: ppiindia-nomail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
6. kembali menerima email: ppiindia-normal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ppiindia-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List **
** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi:
** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ **
** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral
scholarship, kunjungi
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com **
Other related posts:
- » [nasional_list] [ppiindia] Military Businesses and the Reform Process
