Ridwan Max Sijabat, Surabaya – Army Chief Gen. Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo has asked the newly appointed chief of the Brawijaya Military Command, Maj. Gen. Suwarno, to secure all assets in the province belonging to the Indonesian Military (TNI).
"I am asking the new general to keep his eyes on TNI's assets in the province and renew all documents according to the official procedure," he said in his address at the transfer ceremony where Suwarno succeeded Maj. Gen. Bambang Suranto on Wednesday.
All military assets in the province should be protected and utilized for the military command's mission and its personnel's social welfare, Agustadi said.
"Through a standard documentation and true administrative procedure, all the assets will be protected and maintained to avoid any misuse in the future."
Separately, Effendy Choirie, a National Awakening Party (PKB) legislator from East Java and member of the House of Representatives' special committee on disputed land issues, called on the military command to give back many plots of land in the province it unilaterally took from people.
He accused the military command of being sly for registering many plots of lands in Surabaya and other areas in the province with the Finance Ministry and National Agrarian Agency. The military took the land from the people without providing compensation, he said.
"If the military command considers itself a part of the people, all the land it has taken by force or without compensation should be given back to the people."
TNI should stop running businesses and hand over all of its business assets to the government to be more professional, he said.
"Besides the fact that the military businesses have only benefited the military elite, the military cannot focus on improving its professionalism since it has been involved in practical politics in the past and is still running its businesses in numerous sectors having no links with the military," he said.
He said his committee would hold a hearing with the government team assigned to take over the TNI businesses to discuss the fate of the land.
TNI Commander Gen. Djoko Santoso said his side would hand over all business units, except the cooperatives found beneficial for servicemen, to the government team.
Agustadi said he was optimistic that Suwarno had the leadership required to complete his main tasks well, adding that promotion was not a present but a mandate. He said he would be accountable and improve the military command's professionalism to maintain security and political stability in the province.
Suwarno was appointed as the new chief of the military command early this month. He replaces Bambang, who was promoted as new chief of the Army school of staff (Seskoad) in Bandung, West Java. Suwarno previously worked as the chief of the presidential bodyguard squad (Paspampres) in Jakarta.
Suwarno was born to a farmer family in Purworejo, Central Java, in 1955. He began his military career in the Army's cavalry battalions and later spent much of his time in the cavalry, security and UN peace missions overseas.
After completing his job as chief of the Military Resort072 in Central Java in 2005, he assumed his new job as chief of the Army's cavalry education and training command in 2006. He was promoted as the chief of the presidential bodyguard squad in October 2007.