Although he initially seemed a surprising choice for a position dominated by the Army for decades, Air Marshal Djoko Suyanto was confirmed Thursday to head the Indonesian Military (TNI). Below is an excerpt of a conversation Suyanto had with The Jakarta Post's Soeryo Winoto about his plans for the TNI.

Question: What is your main agenda for the TNI?

Answer: National reform and internal reform within the TNI is the base. Internal reforms cover many aspects. TNI members are prohibited from entering into practical politics. In the future, internal reform must be able to put TNI in the right position, as required by the state's administrative system.

It is true that there has been strong demand by the people that TNI get out of politics. But in reality, there is a strong drive within the TNI that has also contributed to the internal reform movement. Remember when the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) scheduled the TNI to leave the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Assembly in 2009. But Pak Tarto (outgoing TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto) said that in 2004 everything would finish, and the TNI left the MPR and DPR in 2004, five years earlier than scheduled.

The next item on the agenda is promoting human rights. It is the duty of the TNI chief and commanders to promote the values of human rights among TNI soldiers.

How will the TNI implement human rights values?

It is a process. It is impossible for human rights values to be implemented properly by all layers of the TNI – from generals to low-ranking soldiers – just because the chief shouts about it. But the fact that the TNI has sincerely promoted the values of human rights internally is something that deserves appreciation. Human rights are taught at every level of education among TNI members. Every commander has a reference book on human rights.

Military law rules that any use or deployment of military personnel must be based on state policy or on a political decision made by the government, with the approval or knowledge of the House of Representatives. In this way nobody will dub the TNI a troublemaker. In short, regarding human rights promotion, the law guarantees that there is nothing to worry about with the presence of the TNI.

What about TNI weaponry and the welfare of soldiers?

Let's look at Singapore. It is a small country that has good military forces with adequate weaponry. Thus it protects itself from attack by other countries. Singapore is at the ideal level in this context. While Indonesia is far from ideal. In such a situation, the ability to lobby the government (by the TNI chief) is crucial. How much money can the government set aside for the military budget? With that much money the chief should be able to make use of the forces at a maximum capacity. Let's take the Air Force as an example. Only 40 percent of our Air Force strength is ready in case of emergency.

How about military businesses?

Speaking of military businesses, I would say that Law No. 34/2004 determines this.

In the past there were always claims that the businesses were undertaken for the welfare of military personnel; housing for widows of soldiers killed, insurance and health services for soldiers. Now that everything is based on the law we must carefully separate individual businesses from institutional businesses. In 2004, a joint team was set up to list the businesses run by the TNI. The team members consist of personnel from state companies, the Finance Ministry and the Corruption Eradication Commission, as well as the military. Now the ball is with the verification team, and I believe that the team will be very wise in correcting and selecting the military businesses. I mean that businesses that serve the interests of TNI members and their families must be retained.

The soldiers also need medical services and insurance, and those killed in battle must get insurance and the widows must get housing. We can't get that much money from the state budget, can we?

What about the regional military commands, like Kodim (regency military commands) or Koramil (district military commands)?

Please be careful. The substance of the territorial policy is now much different from that in the past. In Bahasa Indonesia, I prefer using kewilayahan (areal) to the old terminology "territorial", which could be misleading. As I mentioned before, our military strength is far from ideal to defend the archipelago. Therefore, the kewilayahan strategy is very relevant. Military officers in the regions must be more intuitive in detecting signs of security disturbances as early as possible, from outside or from within the regions. And thus they must be capable of taking prompt and relevant action to keep everything under control.

The kewilayahan strategy has nothing to do with the old paradigm of territorial design, where the military was used to back up the government's political maneuvers. Now, military officers in the regions can no longer arrest people at the request of the administration or political groups.

When it comes to security matters, officers in the regions should be able to hear the sound of a falling needle. The point is that military officers in the regions must keep alert and sharpen their intuition for the sake of security, because a trivial thing can become a serious problem if not anticipated and dealt with properly at an early stage.

So, for the sake of security and defense, the presence of the military in regions, based on the kewilayahan strategy and concept, is relevant and acceptable.

Many observers are skeptical about your ability to handle other forces, especially the Army. How do you see this?

There are people who think the TNI chief can be everything and do anything. The TNI chief will never be able to work alone. He has eight staff members and assistants at headquarters. They are the best representatives of all the forces. They have been set up as a harmonious team.

There is the possibility that my knowledge of the Army or Navy is not that deep compared to theirs, because I am an Air Force man. I will certainly work together with qualified people.