Susan Sim, Jakarta – The Indonesian military will begin a pilot project by the end of the year to phase out the territorial units that used to operate all over the country on behalf of political and other vested interests in Jakarta, the chief of its territorial affairs said yesterday.

Lt-General Agus Widjojo said a comprehensive action plan to whittle down one of the key pillars of authoritarian rule under former president Suharto would begin as soon as the People's Consultative Assembly issued its White Paper, defining the role and mission of the Indonesian Defence Force, in August.

"But we are ready to withdraw all our territorial structures tomorrow morning if that is what society wants and there are no negative effects," he told The Straits Times in an interview in Singapore.

Those negative effects include problems that would ensue if the civilian authorities did not provide remote villages with the security they now get from the soldiers in their midst.

There are also technical problems, such as where the military would place the soldiers who used to man the military posts in every village and district.

The TNI leadership recognised that it could not hanker after a past system of martial rule carried over from Indonesia's revolutionary founding and that soldiers could no longer allow themselves to be used as "elements in political manoeuvring", he said.

However, in the rural areas, the people still wanted to consult soldiers on socio-political matters. "In the past, we were given a legitimate role as facilitator to find solutions to social and security matters," the general said.

"But there was also a particular dimension of overreaching into politics on the instructions of the centre to support one of the political parties. We no longer want to be involved in politics, but the people still consult us."

In some district elections, for instance, the people continued to nominate their local military leaders as candidates. If they wanted to run, they were forced to retire from the military, the general noted. "People feel safer with a military presence, to report their problems to the TNI rather than to the civilian authorities," he said.

He argued for a gradual approach to demands for the abolition of the military territorial structures. "In Jakarta, they don't want us around. But you have to ask yourself if what you read in the newspapers is a reflection of what Jakarta wants or what the people in the rural areas want," he said. "They don't care who leads them, or how each political party is different from the other. They just want the goods delivered."

Still the village bapinsa – the military posts – would probably all be dismantled. How and where the process would begin would depend on the feedback military headquarters was now gathering.

In the new era of regional autonomy, slated to begin next January, if any elected district head wanted soldiers to leave his region, then "we'll go", he said. But if chaos ensued, then the TNI had "no authority to interfere".

Only in 10 years would the country see the full effects of civilian control and management of resources for national defence. "The ball is in the civilian court. If they can prove they are competent, we're out," he said.