Sander Thoenes, Jakarta – If there were fewer soldiers on the streets of Jakarta than might have been expected last week as Moslems and Christians clashed, buildings were torched and shops looted, it did not mean they were far away.

In fact, many were just around the corner – not keeping the peace, but guarding the twin towers that house the Jakarta Stock Exchange and dozens of other office buildings owned by the military. Others were earning a fee for protecting more upmarket shopping malls from the looters.

Real estate and protection are two extremes of the Indonesian military's business operations, which span forestry plantations, mining and airlines and some say include piracy, smuggling and brothels.

Now the military's preoccupation with money-making, like the business empire of the Suharto family and their "cronies", is coming under attack, along with its leaders.

"The military should go back to the barracks and focus on what they're supposed to do," said Abdillah Toha, magazine editor and member of an opposition party. "Now they do more harm than good."

Critics of the army point to other cases that they said illustrated the security forces' neglect. This week residents of Kupang, a town on the island of Timor in eastern Indonesia, complained that far too few soldiers had shown up even though they knew Christians would stage a protest against the burning of churches by Moslems in Jakarta.

A peaceful march quickly turned into an attack on mosques and houses and schools owned by Moslems, sparking fears that Indonesia's Moslem majority would retaliate with a nationwide assault on Christians.

The military blame a shortage of staff, and most agree that 500,000 soldiers and police officers are not enough to control 17,000 islands. The police force is to be increased from 220,000 to 260,000.

But the Indonesian media have begun to detail the intricate network of businesses run by active and retired military who backed Mr Suharto's rule for 32 years.

"The whole army is involved, from the lowest commander on up," said Indria Samego, a political scientist who has just published a book on the topic. He said Mr Suharto set the trend as far back as the 1950s, when he was alleged to have helped set up a sugar smuggling ring. Later he bought loyalty by allowing generals to head state companies such as Pertamina, the oil and gas monopoly.

Like most industries in Indonesia, however, the military businesses are reeling from the economic crisis. Their airlines are grounded for lack of cash, their office buildings stand half empty and their factories cannot pay their debt. Many of their forestry concessions have long been cleared, leaving much of Kalimantan, Sumatra and Irian Jaya deforested.

"This is their cash cow," Mr Indria says. "When the cow does not provide any milk anymore, ABRI [the armed forces] must find another source of income – like racketeering."

Mr Indria says that, despite the protests, the government is too weak to curb the military and its commander, General Wiranto, too ambitious to clean it up. "There are no strong political figures so they still rely on Abri for protection," he says. "Wiranto wants power. And that requires money."

Sri Mulyani Indrawati, a prominent economist, blames the government for the military's penchant for business. "We allow them to finance themselves," she said. "That means we allow for lawlessness, for distortions in the economy."

Ms Mulyani says a range of economic reforms agreed with the International Monetary Fund do nothing to address this problem. "We can meet all the IMF requests but it will mean nothing," she said. "The infrastructure, the people who run all this are underpaid and live in a system that is corrupted." SUBJECT: International