The next chief of Indonesia's military faces one of the toughest jobs in the country professionalising the country's armed forces. Air Marshall Djoko Suyanto has been hand picked by President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono to continue the task of reforming the notorious services especially the army.

Presenter/Interviewer: Karon Snowdon

Speakers: Indonesian political and military analyst, Bob Lowry.

Snowdon: Chief of the airforce, Air Marshall Djoko Suyanto has, like many of his contemporaries, received training in the United States. He is also one of the few non-army appointments as Commander in Chief of Indonesia's military.

With just a few years before he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 58, he doesn't have long to make his mark. And there's no quick fix to the problems confronting him.

Indonesia's armed forces, known as the TNI stands accused of past blatant human rights abuses – both at home and in East Timor, is still not trusted by many Indonesians, and still exerts significant influence over civilian affairs.

Plus, according to military and political analyst Bob Lowry, Air Marshall Suyanto will lack the money and the authority to do the job many might be expecting.

Lowry: He is a good choice in that he is at least giving an indication that the president actually wants to start the long term process of reforming the military. On the other hand, there is very little that he can actually do without government support and direction and resources.

Snowdon: So you think that Air Marshall Suyanto is the right person to continue the reform that's been started so far and hasn't gone that far actually?

Lowry: No, the reform process has been interrupted by various political problems in previous governments and the priority of the current president is to get the economy going and he has very little in terms of taxation resources etc to start reforming them the military of the public service generally so it is going to be a slow process.

Snowdon: Is that one of the major problems? Is just having the funding to improve the military and reform it along the way?

Lowry: That's one of the major problems and until he's got that, he can't increase the salaries of either the military or the public service, and then pull them out of the business interests that they're involved in at the moment which distort their public function. But there's only so far he can go until some of the structural issues are actually sorted out and the military command system is reformed, especially the territorial system and the military is pulled out of the business interests, the illegal and legal business interests.

Snowdon: Suyanto replaces the reformist General Endirartono Sutarto who was kept on despite offering his resignation in 2004 to former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

She appointed a hardliner replacement – a move swiftly rescinded by incoming President Yudhoyono roughly a month later. As a result Megawati's party the PDIP isn't supportive of the new man who has to be approved by the parliament.

Still, he is assured of being confirmed and can expect strong backing from the President with whom he reportedly enjoys playing golf.

One task of the commander in chief's job will be to continue to keep the military politically neutral, as Indonesia builds its democracy.

The President's commitment to reform and the importance of Indonesia to the US in its fight against terrorism, were given as reasons for the US to resume full military ties in November after they were severed in 1999 after the East Timor violence.

Australia followed a month later with the decision to renew joint training exercises with Kopassus – the army's elite commando style unit. Critics say both moves came too soon. And in Bob Lowry's view Indonesia's President and government still need to demonstrate more political will toward reform.

Lowry: It's the same in most countries. The military commander in chief has the authority to direct the operations of the military. But in terms of policy, in otherwords deciding what sort of armed forces they want, what they want them to do, what sort of budget allocation should be given to them, that's a government policy decision. And that's been lacking in Indonesia because of resource limitations and also because the Ministry of Defence doesn't have authority over the armed forces to direct reform or changes, or the allocation of resources.