[ETAN-key] TNI Blasted For Not Handing Over Businesses

[ETAN]

The Jakarta Post

Saturday, March 12, 2011

TNI Blasted For Not Handing Over Businesses

Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The prolonged transfer of Indonesian Military 
(TNI) businesses to the government is proof of 
the TNI’s lack of transparency and poor 
willingness to reform, an NGO said on Friday.

The 2004 TNI Law mandates the force to complete 
the handover of the businesses — worth a total Rp 
3.2 trillion (US$364.8 million) — to the government by 2009.

“The deadline passed almost two years ago, but 
the TNI has not announced the handover progress,” 
Al Araf, the program director of Imparsial, said at a press conference.

The government also seemed reluctant to enforce 
the law by pushing the TNI to fulfill its obligations, he said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired 
army general, was afraid of losing political 
support from the armed forces, he said.

“The TNI is still a significant power in 
Indonesian politics. The President might not want 
to exacerbate the political situation given the 
current tensions among members of the ruling coalition,” Al Araf said.

The decision to end military businesses was made 
in October 2004 when the House of Representatives passed the TNI law.

Critics claim military businesses were a vehicle 
for members of the military to amass personal wealth.

Human rights groups and military analysts have 
long voiced concerns over the military’s business 
activities, which they say were at the root of 
many of human rights abuse and corruption cases.

In early 2009, then defense minister Juwono 
Sudarsono pledged the processes would be 
completed by the deadline set by the law, which was October 2009.

However, the government failed to do this, 
forcing the minister to form a national team on 
military business takeovers comprising officials 
from the TNI and the Defense Ministry as well as 
representatives from the Finance Ministry, 
Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises 
Ministry, State-Owned Enterprises Ministry and Law and Human Rights Ministry.

Businessman Silmy Karim, who was appointed to 
head the team, claimed the transfer process was 
complete. He insisted the government had carried 
out the mandates stipulated by regulations.

Salim said Imparsial may have overlooked some 
regulations ruling that cooperatives and 
foundations were excluded from the process.

“Everything was done by the end of 2009. We 
cannot take over cooperatives because they are no 
longer included in the TNI organizational 
structure as regulated by a 2010 presidential 
regulation,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Foundations were also no longer subject to the 
TNI law because they were not businesses, Silmy argued.

Most military businesses, set up in the New Order 
era, are cooperatives or foundations. The team 
said there were 1,321 cooperatives, 53 firms and 
23 foundations run by the TNI as well as 1,175 
other subsidiaries leasing state property for commercial purposes.

Official data shows these businesses generate an 
average annual profit of a paltry Rp 268 billion.

This figure, however, has decreased steadily, 
triggering suspicions the TNI may have 
manipulated the legal status of some business 
units to exempt them from being targeted by the law.

Al Araf cited a 2006 statement by the TNI 
claiming that all of the business were worth only 
Rp 1.5 trillion, far below the initial estimate of Rp 3.2 trillion.

“In fact, an independent study in 2004 valued the 
assets of all TNI businesses at Rp 5 trillion,” he said.

Al Araf said Silmy’s claims must be backed up by 
a transparent disclosure of the whole transfer 
process, including details of all of the business units handed over.

“The TNI must disclose the value of each business 
unit and their assets,” he said.

etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan

Support ETAN in 2011. Make a contribution here http://etan.org/etan/donate.htm
Thank you for your support.

John M. Miller, National Coordinator
East Timor & Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
PO Box 21873, Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873 USA
Phone: +1-718-596-7668  Mobile phone: +1-917-690-4391
Email: john at etan.org Skype: john.m.miller
http://www.etan.org

Twitter: http://twitter.com/etan009
Blog: http://etanaction.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/134122?recruiter_id=10193810

Send a blank e-mail message to info at etan.org to 
find out how to learn more about East Timor and Indonesia on the Internet

etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan