Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The country's military got a party pooper of a birthday present on Monday – a reminder from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that it must phase out its raft of lucrative businesses once and for all.
Yudhoyono made the comments during a low-key celebration of the 64th anniversary of the Armed Forces. The festivities were conspicuously devoid of the noisy parades and aircraft flyovers that have marked celebrations in the past.
Military spokesman Air Vice Marshall Sagom Tamboen said the event was kept simple as a show of respect and sympathy for victims of the West Sumatra earthquake, which left hundreds of people dead and thousands more homeless. He made his remarks at the military's headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta.
Yudhoyono said reforms for the military, also known as the TNI, dictated that its era of profit-oriented businesses was over.
"The TNI must conduct the transfer of its businesses. It is aimed at improving the military's professionalism in executing its task to guard the nation's sovereignty," Yudhoyono said. Yudhoyono also said a new decree was ready to be issued soon to regulate the transfer of those businesses to the government, but he did not release further details.
In the future, he said, all of the military's "business units would be regulated under the decree."
The House of Representatives passed a law in 2004 requiring that the government take over all military-run businesses by 2009.
A team tasked with verifying the military's business interests, led by former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) member Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, last year said that an audit of 1,098 military cooperatives and 23 foundations found they were worth a total of Rp 3.4 trillion ($357 million). The TNI also has real estate holdings that include 25,000 hectares of land, malls, hotels and office buildings.
Yudhoyono also urged the military to continue its commitment to reforms that began 10 years ago after the fall of former President Suharto. Yudhoyono said that over the last decade, he had witnessed evidence of the military's commitment to democracy, the rule of law and human rights.
"The TNI is developing to become more professional, highly dedicated soldiers. What has been achieved should continue to be implemented and completed," Yudhoyono said.
He also ordered the military to advance its reform agenda and to maintain the progress it had already made.
The president also said the government would support the TNI's professional development, citing a 30 percent increase in the military's budget for 2010. He pledged to continue increasing that budget in the coming years "for the military to speed up reform," Yudhoyono said.
The president also called on the TNI to continue its support of police counterterrorism efforts. "The military must cooperate with police and contribute to the handling of terrorism," Yudhoyono said.
Nearly 2,000 soldiers attended the ceremony, along with top government officials such as Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Taufik Kiemas, the newly elected chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly.