Stratfor:_The_Bad_Bird:_Indonesias_A_rmy_ Gets a Reformer (fwd)

["M.G.G. Pillai" <pillai@mgg.pc.my>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 04 Mar 2000 10:25:34
From: tapol@gn.apc.org
Reply-To: "Conference act.indonesia" <indonesia-act@igc.org>
To: Recipients of indonesia-act <indonesia-act@igc.org>
Subject: Stratfor:_The_Bad_Bird:_Indonesias_A_rmy_ Gets a Reformer

From: TAPOL <tapol@gn.apc.org>
Subject: Stratfor:_The_Bad_Bird:_Indonesia’s_A_rmy_ Gets a Reformer

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

Stratfor Commentary
March 3, 2000

The Bad Bird: Indonesia’s Army Gets a Reformer

Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Commander Adm. Widodo approved a large-scale 
reshuffling of the military this week, shifting 74 officers and several top 
positions. In the most noteworthy transfer, he appointed an outspoken 
reformer, Lt. Gen. Agus Wirahadikusumah, as the head of the elite Army 
Strategic Reserve Command, known as Kostrad. 

Agus' appointment to the high-profile Kostrad will gauge the degree of 
remaining resistance within the army to President Abdurrahman Wahid's efforts 
at reducing the army’s traditional grip on Jakarta's political agenda. The 
army's acceptance of Agus is tantamount to accepting Wahid's program of 
reform. If Agus fails, the army will be signaling its refusal to accept the 
supremacy of the civilian government. 

Agus represents the most extreme reformist element within the armed forces. 
He is one of the few officers to have relentlessly and loudly supported 
Wahid's effort to take the army out of politics. Despite the president's 
agenda, many TNI officers still consider political influence to be part and 
parcel of their sworn oath to guarantee Indonesian unity. 

Last year, Agus led a group of generals in a campaign to abolish the army's 
political role. Shortly after, he was whisked out of his position in Jakarta 
to a far-off command post in Sulawesi, an island to the northeast of Jakarta. 
Only weeks ago, Agus drew the ire of Gen. Wiranto and other top generals by 
calling for Wiranto's resignation for his alleged role in the September 
violence in East Timor. 

Now Agus has returned to Jakarta to head Kostrad. The potential for conflict 
appears enormous. Traditionalists in the TNI may be reluctant to hand over 
leadership of the army's most elite force to a young upstart who appears 
hell-bent on undercutting the power and influence of the military. 

His appointment has already created a ripple of discontent. Gen. Wiranto, 
once Kostrad's chief himself, called Agus a "bad bird," and indirectly 
questioned whether he was capable of carrying out his office. Even Wahid, who 
admittedly requested Agus’ promotion to a position in Jakarta, seemed 
hesitant to support his appointment to Kostrad. "I don't know his other 
abilities, apart from being a thinker," he said. "Whether or not he can lead 
Kostrad, that's not my business." 

Wahid's apparent need to distance himself from the appointment, combined with 
Wiranto's clear disdain, suggests the inevitable: Bumps remain on the road to 
the army's removal from politics. Wahid is either concerned that the military 
may not support the move, or is under Wiranto's influence. But Agus himself 
will be the true test case. If he is removed from his position, it will be a 
clear sign of the military's unwillingness to accept its rapidly diminishing 
its political role.
 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 0181 771-2904   Fax: 0181 653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh

26 years - and still going strong 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++