Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The brutal five-hour siege of a police station in North Sumatra by about 200 soldiers reveals the lack of discipline in the Indonesian armed forces.

Just as important, Monday's bloody battle in the town of Binjai also illustrates the soldiers' desperation to make extra money to supplement their meagre income.

The clash – sparked by the police's refusal to free a soldier accused of drug dealing – was the bloodiest so far. But it probably will not be the last one between the military and the police.

Significantly, the assault occurred hours after the regional military chiefs had rushed to the town and ordered the troops back to the barracks on Sunday. Yet, despite the orders, the troops launched an attack the following day, killing at least four police officers and two civilians.

The defiance stems from the fact that the military headquarters is funding less and less of battalions' operational costs, leaving the soldiers and the military units to fend for themselves.

As Mr Marcus Meitzner, a military analyst from the Australian National University, observed: "Control is a function of money; you can't control territorial units if you can't fund them." Former defence minister Juwono Sarwono admitted in 2000 that only between 25 per cent to 35 per cent of the military's funding comes from the government budget.

The rest has to be raised through the military's private foundations, businesses as well as any local businesses. But the money has been harder to raise since the fall of President Suharto.

Military commanders and former generals no longer enjoy the situation where they were in almost every layer of government, from provincial governor to district chief to head of government departments. Their removal deprives the military of a controlling stake in local and regional economies, Mr Meitzner pointed out.

"And it is becoming more and more clear that in an effort to raise more money, they are becoming involved in illegal businesses such as the local drug trade." In addition, the military now faces competition from the police for a stake in fund-raising ventures, such as providing security services for businesses or in protecting illegal businesses such as gambling, prostitution, illegal mining, illegal fishing and illegal logging, said analysts. "Business competition is getting tougher," said Mr Meitzner.

A report this year by international think tank, Crisis Group International, said that in almost every strife-ridden region across the archipelago, the military have "quickly developed vested economic interests in the conflict."

"These include protection rackets; extortion checkpoints on the roads; control over sale and distribution of basic goods like gasoline; involvement in natural resource extraction; and sales of weapons and ammunition to the highest bidder".

A military spokesman from Medan, Sumatra, admitted that economic interests might be the cause of the conflict. "Yes it is a possibility, we can't close our eyes to it," said General Rationo, who admitted it would not be easy to prevent future flare-ups.

"The important thing now is to take preventive action, even though this won't be easy because we know the conditions of the soldiers," he told Elshinta radio. Some analysts argue that the only way to improve discipline and performance is for the government to fund 100 per cent of the armed forces' operational needs.

Said military analyst Riefqi Muna: "If the military has to find its own funds, then it is going to use its guns to put itself in a strong position to do this. The military is not supposed to run businesses but to defend the country."