Jakarta – The discovery of a large arms stash in a deceased Army officer's home last week underscores problems of transparency and accountability in weapons procurement in the Indonesian Military (TNI), experts said.
The executive director of the Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies, Rizal Dharma Putra, said the find at one of the homes of Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi showed the lack of clear policy on procurement.
"Each force is left to adopt its own policy in weapons procurement, both through legal and illegal means," he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency Sunday.
TNI Commander Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto said Friday the investigation into the cache may widen to involve other Army officers, because it was "impossible" for the late Army deputy to the assistant for logistics to have stored or intended to use the weapons by himself.
Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said there was "no choice" but to continue his policy to gradually regulate arms procurement. The inclination of the Army, Navy and Air Force to work separately in the provision of their equipment, he said, was more notable following the United States' almost 15-year ban on the sale of armaments and spare parts to Indonesia.
Logistics should ideally be regulated by the Defense Ministry, Rizal said, because it was a civilian institution which could be controlled by the legislature.
Defense expert Andi Widjajanto said Koesmayadi may have been an arms broker for the TNI given his responsibility for logistics. "The weapons found in his house were light weapons usually used by TNI units and the mobile police brigade," Andi said.
A routine TNI inventory of Koesmayadi's possessions made following his death from heart problems on June 25 found 145 rifles, 42 pistols, 28,985 bullets, nine grenades and 28 pairs of binoculars at one of his residences in Ancol, North Jakarta.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged a thorough investigation into the stash, including any link to other high-ranking officers.
Researcher Indria Samego, who has written about the military's wide-ranging involvement in business, believed Koesmayadi would have gained protection among other officers in keeping the hoard, and many more would be arrested in a thorough probe.
The public announcement of the discovery, made last Thursday night in a hastily called news conference, took many by surprise. Rizal said the TNI usually maintained a firm silence on any suspected irregularities within its corps.
Security expert Wawan Purwanto told Antara that if the find revealed a covert operation then the ensuing investigation would have to reveal whether it was for "... national interest, or only for a group of military and national elite".
Koesmayadi, 53, who graduated from the Military Academy in 1975, was formerly the assistant for logistics at the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad).