Before the democratic reform took place in Indonesia on May 1998, I always have mixed feelings on the armed forces.
On the one hand, I was aware that Indonesia needs a strong armed forces to protect and defend sovereignty from any attacks by foreign or domestic enemies. And the fact shows that since our independence the armed forces has played leading role in driving away enemy attacks.
On the other hand, I am very sick and tired of the dominant roles of the military officials in almost every thing that goes on in Indonesia, in which they were used as a tool by the authoritarian regime at that time to maintain power.
10 years after the reform, the armed forces’ role in civilian life has decreased significantly, and civilians played most of the major roles in society.
However, the demilitarization process has gone too far, for example drastic cuts in budget has unable the armed forces to maintain their equipments causing frequent air crashes killing many well and expensively trained officers.
Today, 5 October, the armed forces celebrate its 64th anniversary, and I hope that the government, the parliament and every one in Indonesia would realize that we need a strong armed forces to protect and defend our country and people, therefore obviously we should treat them properly and provide them with what they need so that they can do their job properly.
LONG LIVE THE INDONESIAN ARMED FORCES!
4 comments:
I strongly agree with you, keep them equiped.
Ron,
Yes, every armed forces should be well trained and equipped.
The perception outside Indonesia often seems to be that nothing has changed with regard to the Indonesian Armed Forces. This seems to be especially true of Australians. I have been blogging on the My Telegraph site and there you find insistence that nothing has changed in Indonesia with reference to the military and/or corruption. It is going to take more effort in publicising change I think to win the 'perception battle'.
Duckhams,
I am very glad to hear you comment.
I have visited your interesting blog and I'll check your 'My Telegraph' site.
I agree that the military is still the most powerful organization in Indonesia. This is understandable because they are very disciplined and very committed to their doctrine.
I also agree that corruption still exists like in the past.
However, the difference is that since the so called Reformasi 11 years ago (almost) everything is far more transparent. Although law enforcement; and justice still needs lots of improvements, at least the condition is more conducive for doing so.
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