Yeoh En-lai – Indonesia's military will continue to play a strong role as the present crop of politicians is far from securing the future of the country, Indonesia's former defence minister said yesterday.

Professor Juwono Sudarsono said the civilian parties and their politicians "still have a long way to go before they can embark on purely civilian control" and that it would take another 10 to 15 years before politicians took command of the military.

The decision last August to retain a military presence in Parliament was testimony to the military's role in building Indonesia under a civilian authority, he said.

The army was an influential force in Indonesia's development under former president Suharto and was influential in removing former leader Abdurrahman Wahid last month.

Prof Juwono was in Singapore to deliver a lunchtime talk to the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies Asia-Pacific Summer Camp for Senior Military Officers at the Shangri-La Hotel. He was appointed defence minister by Mr Abdurrahman in October 1999, the first civilian to hold the position in more than 30 years.

He said: "Civilian society has been achieved with the elections of 1999, but the substance of civilian control over the military will take at least 10 to 15 years. "And this has to do with the very weakness of civilian parties and civic associations in building up the institutions of civil society to fill the vacuum left by the military." It is understood the army runs numerous enterprises and businesses used to finance its own needs.

He added that the 21 months under Mr Abdurrahman had "not been promising in the effectiveness of democratisation". Mr Abdurrahman had tried to to rein in the military.

The professor said there was a need for Indonesia to focus on building up a strong middle class to have an effective transition to a purely civilian rule. The middle class now constitutes less than 10 per cent of the country's population of 210 million. A strong middle class was also needed for an effective shift to civilian rule, he said.

And he also noted that the high level of unemployment was a problem. "The social and economic base is just not there. We do not have the very best social and economic environment to provide for a smooth transition."

He voiced disappointment that Indonesia's political parties were not meeting the challenges faced by the people but were leveraging on their leaders' popularity for support. The IDSS camp ends on Saturday.