Susan Sim, Jakarta – Indonesia's tough new army chief will soon invite public auditors to scrutinise the accounts of the service's many business companies and foundations. And if evidence of any illegal activity is found against any officer or soldier, he will throw the book at the culprits, General Endriartono Sutarto vowed yesterday.

Speaking to The Straits Times on the eve of a handing-over ceremony yesterday that sees him taking over actual command of the army from General Tyasno Sudarto, he made it clear, however, that it was not the critics he was seeking to appease. Rather his aim is to make sure that money from the army foundations goes only to improving the welfare of his soldiers and not to line the pockets of a few individuals.

Whether the larger public also has a right to know the results of the audits, he will leave the decision to his superiors, the Defence Minister and the commander of the Indonesian Defence Forces (TNI), he added.

His main concern is to root out corruption. Indeed, finding out the truth about the company finances is but one aspect of a tough love campaign he intends to wage throughout the army to instil discipline and professionalism.

For a start, he will be holding line commanders responsible for any violations of the law by their subordinates, starting with the recent police arrests of two soldiers for their alleged involvement in the bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange. Another case would be an ongoing probe into another two soldiers who allegedly sold military weapons to the Free Aceh Movement.

"I'm going to cut down all indiscipline cases by 70 to 80 per cent in three months. I'm a consistent man. I don't care who it is who breaks the law – lieutenant-generals or privates. All indiscipline will be dealt with. And I will hold their superiors up to two levels up responsible too," he declared, clenching his fist to make his point.

Ironically, whether his tough love campaign succeeds or not may hinge on what he does to one man – erstwhile rival Lt-Gen Agus Wirahadikusumah. Senior army officers, 45 of whom signed a petition demanding that he face a military honour court for allegedly leaving the country without permission and other procedural violations, are setting this as the real test of their new chief's leadership.

Lt-Gen Agus had in the last few months become a bane to the officer corps for his open criticism of the TNI, and somewhat naked ambition to become Army chief. He left many to suspect that he had been asking politicians and even foreign powers to lobby the President on his behalf.

But Gen Endriartono yesterday dismissed the Harvard-trained officer as "a small problem". He will send him to the honour court if there is evidence he violated military rules, he said. But it will not be for, say, opening up the accounts of the Kostrad business foundations to public audits. "What Agus did there is a very good idea. I will do the same."

The army has no business running companies, he noted. "It is better for us to concentrate on professional matters." But it has had no choice since the state budget cannot accommodate the welfare needs of the soldiers, he said.

Gen Endriartono said he did not know how much income the army companies made, but noted that the decision on whether the military should divest its businesses was not his to take. If the powers-that-be do want divestment to take place, then soldiers must be compensated in some way, he said.